Chelsea appoint game-changing figure amid ambitious plans

Chelsea have officially appointed Sachin Gupta as their first-ever Chief Analytics Officer.

The 42-year-old is regarded as a leader in sports analytics and began his role earlier this month.

Chelsea’s owners, Clearlake Capital, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali want to transform the club’s approach to decision-making and believe Gupta’s arrival will help with that.

Since acquiring the club in 2022, they have made clear their belief that European football is lagging behind US sports in data-driven operations, with Eghbali previously referencing Brighton owner Tony Bloom as an example of what Chelsea will look to do.

“We think there’s a path to controlling labour costs and still producing a winning product using data, using the multi club,” Eghbali said at SporticoLive’s “Invest in Sports” Summit back in October 2022.

“We think the multi club is an interesting tool for player trading [and] if you have a cost structure that can sustain and you invigorate the fanbase we think you can have a business that makes money that are natural monopolies in their markets without the regulation, without the salary caps.

“The [Brighton] owner [Tony Bloom] is from a sport gaming, data background. Spends 10% of the payroll, wins almost as much and is a very stable mid-market, mid-table, very profitable club. I think if you apply some of that IP into developing talent but keeping your talent.”

Gupta brings nearly two decades of experience from the NBA, where he held senior roles with teams like the Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Minnesota Timberwolves.

His innovative thinking, which includes the creation of the popular ‘NBA Trade Machine’ for ESPN, has earned him a reputation as a trailblazer in sports data.