DATA SCIENCE is the growth area in football, yet also one of the least understood. At this special event, we will be finding out what the top Premier League and international teams are doing, from the experts who are doing it.

SOME might dismiss Harry Redknapp as a hangover from a bygone age, but Ben Dirs finds the 71-year-old as passionate and thought-provoking as ever about the game he loves.

LA-based Second Spectrum, who describe themselves as the “world leader in building machines that understand sports”, begin their tracking contract with the Premier League tonight.

THIS season the NFL will share comprehensive player-tracking data with all of its teams, heralding a new era of data analysis.

FORMER Premier League footballer (and champion boxer) Curtis Woodhouse tells Ben Dirs why he's learnt so much managing Bridlington Town in the Northern Counties Premier Division.

STRIKER Anthony Mounier left St Etienne just four days after joining them on loan last year. The case shows how costly it can be if clubs don't do their due diligence properly.

DANNY CIPRIANI is one of English rugby's great talents, but hasn't started a Test for 10 years. He tells Ben Dirs about refusing to fit the mould.

FOR YEARS, the barmaid at The Borough thought the small, grey-haired chap wearing an old England rugby shirt was just another regular. She was right, up to a point.

TACTICAL decisions during matches will soon be made using positional data and machine learning rather than a manager's subjective judgement, according to the head of scouting and analysis for the German national team.

TRAINING GROUND GURU has been shortlisted for sport website of the year at the prestigious Sport Journalism Awards.

OUR top 10 best-read stories of 2017, ranging from Redfearn to Ranieri.

MARTIN EDWARDS transformed Manchester United from a club in the doldrums into a corporate juggernaut. So why doesn't he get more credit? Ben Dirs went to meet the club's unloved emperor.

MICROSOFT has launched a new Sports Performance Platform which it says could enable teams to predict injuries and prolong players’ careers.

Steph Curry and Danny Cipriani are enthusiastic members of the floating fraternity. We sent Ben Dirs down to Float Level in Manchester to find out what it's all about.

BENFICA and Cricket Australia are pioneering use of a ‘player performance platform’ that enables them to make sense of their vast amounts of data.

WHAT links scientists at Newcastle United, NASA and IBM? The answer is Brian Moore and his eight-year-old company Orreco.

Ex-England striker Alan Smith reveals the truth about his acrimonious exit from Leeds, the injury that almost ended his career and why he is relishing every moment with Notts County.