American football analytics company Pro Football Focus (PFF) has announced plans to expand into Europe and to diversify into analytics services for US and European soccer clubs with a club-focused product due to launch next month.
With the launch of a suite of soccer products, PFF expects to create 21 remote full-time and 175 seasonal analyst roles in Ireland over the next three years.
Founded in the UK in 2009, PFF analyses player performance, ranks/grades players, and assesses the overall performance of American football teams competing in the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) leagues.
In 2011, PFF began providing customised data monitoring services for three NFL teams and now supplies data for all 32 NFL teams, more than 100 NCAA teams and seven Canadian Football League (CFL) teams.
Other notable customers include NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Fox Sports and EA Sports, and its European launch follows the Aer Lingus Classic between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, both clients of PFF, at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
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PFF said the decision to establish an operation in Ireland was primarily driven by the availability of talent and the flourishing sports tech ecosystem here.
"Ireland will play a key role in PFF’s expansion into the beautiful game," said Nate Gerstle, general manager of soccer operations at PFF.
"Its strategic location, the availability of skilled labour, and rich history of achievements in science and technology are among the many reasons why our management team chose Ireland.
"To say nothing of the fact that the environment is simply welcoming; Ireland is encouraging PFF’s success, and our team wants to return that success in-kind.”
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar said the company was a welcome addition to Ireland's sports tech sector.
"These are exciting and interesting roles in software development, data collection and analysis in an international sports analytics company," he continued.
"I’m particularly pleased to see the company provide remote working opportunities – it’s important to give employees the option, where possible and the government is putting in place the infrastructure to support that choice."
Mary Buckley, executive director of IDA Ireland, said: “PFF’s decision to have a European presence in Ireland, is welcome news.
"A household name in the US, PFF is a significant addition to Ireland’s emerging sports tech cluster. I’d like to wish the team every success with this expansion.”
Photo: (l-r) Mary Buckley; Barry O'Connell, global training manager at PFF; and Liam Jones, global training specialist at PFF. (Pic: IDA Ireland)
