January 26, 2026
Artificial Intelligence is no longer just an additional element in the world of sports, but rather an active partner working behind the scenes. Major clubs use it to analyze performance, predict injuries, monitor players’ physical loads, study competitors’ game plans, and even select new players during the transfer period. But the most important question is: When does artificial intelligence become an “assistant” that provides new insights, and when does it become a “decision maker” that imposes its agenda on the team and clashes with human experience and the natural understanding of the players?
This problem clearly emerged with Spanish coach Robert Moreno, after news spread about the Russian club Sochi terminating his contract, revealing that the real reason was not only the results, but also a work method that surprised everyone within the club due to excessive reliance on tools such as “ChatGPT” in the smallest technical and administrative details. According to a story reported by Russian media from Andrei Orlov, the club’s former deputy general director, Moreno was entering travel and training data into “ChatGPT” and relying on the schedule suggested by the program, which led to a strange situation during a trip to Khabarovsk, where the program allegedly made the players suffer from severe fatigue, to the point of staying awake for approximately 28 hours.
According to the same account, the matter was not limited to organizing travel, but also extended to include decisions related to the selection of players and contracts. Orlov stated that Moreno used “ChatGPT” to compare two potential strikers and chose “the best”, but that selection ended with a player who did not leave any scoring impact in the following matches, which increased doubts within the club. Here lies the real challenge. Players do not view decisions as mere tables and numbers, but rather as “messages of trust”: who makes the decision, why, and how. However, this information has not been conclusively confirmed. Russian media reported that Moreno commented on the allegations related to his work in Sochi with the help of “ChatGPT”, indicating that part of the story is still just accusations circulated by a former official, and not an “official confession” from the club or coach. In addition, sports reports indicated that the dismissal decision was originally due to poor results, before details of the “method of work” later emerged that sparked the greatest controversy.
In conclusion, the Moreno case is not an “AI scandal” in the true sense, but rather an early warning that AI in sports can be very useful when used to reduce errors and improve preparation, but can turn into a liability when it replaces rather than enhances human judgement. In football in particular, where human factors play a major role in achieving victory, it is not enough for decisions to be “logical” on paper… they must be accepted and understood on the field.
