'It worked. We won the game' - Seattle Reign coach Laura Harvey admits she used ChatGPT to improve tactics ahead of NWSL season

Harvey conceded that AI was instrumental in her team's success this season - and in a very direct way, too. In an appearance on the Soccerish Podcast, Harvey admitted that she asked ChatGPT to help her form her team ahead of the season. 

She typed in “What formation should you play to beat NWSL teams?” and it yielded suggestions for how to play against every other NWSL side. The technology recommended she play five at the back against two of them, she said, which served as the base for her tactics throughout the year. 

Harvey pointed out that the technology was instrumental in helping her think about her tactical setup in new ways. Despite being in managerial roles for nearly 20 years, she admitted hadn't played a five-at-the-back system before, but the analysis from ChatGPT gave her a nudge towards a different way of playing - one that has proved immensely successful this year. 

"I'd never really done a lot of research on it," she said. "I'd never really, like, invested into how it could be played in the women's game. I'd only ever really seen it from afar, you know, watching men's games really."

She found, for example, that a five-back system could be applied throughout a game, rather than to just hold onto late leads:

"It was always sort of talked about as a way to see games out. You know, [you go ahead] and get into a back five and stop people from scoring, was sort of how, like, a back five had been talked about for me," she said.

Harvey was quick to emphasize, though, that she didn't derive her exact system from the technology. The recommendation sparked an idea, which she then encouraged her coaching staff to study, which yielded a new system altogether.

"We researched it, we did a deep dive on it, we thought about how we could play it,” she continued. “And we went for it, and we liked it. It worked. We won the game."

Whatever changes AI recommended have certainly worked. The Reign were among the worst teams in the league last season, and finished 13th out of 14 teams. This year, they are fourth, have won 10 out of their 25 games, and, depending on results elsewhere, could secure home field advantage for at least one round of the playoffs.