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AZ welcomes 'Moneyball' legend Beane as club advisor

Xinhua, March 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Dutch soccer club AZ Alkmaar have attracted Billy Beane, general manager of the Major League Baseball club Oakland Athletics, for an official advisor role.

The 52-year-old Beane is going to give AZ advice in the areas of high performance and innovation. In almost two decades as GM of the A's Beane has evaluated players based on a statistical analysis and he achieved surprising results with this method.

With his low budget team he beat the big market clubs on a regular base. Beane even became the subject of Michael Lewis' 2003 book on baseball economics, Moneyball, which was made into a 2011 film starring Brad Pitt as Beane.

"I am truly excited for the opportunity to be part of AZ Alkmaar in an advisory role," Beane stated in a press release. "Despite being a great football club with a storied history, they face many of the challenges we have with the Oakland A's. My love for football and AZ's vision of the future of the club made this an attractive pursuit."

"We've had a lot of contact with Billy In the last few months," reacted AZ's director of soccer Earnest Stewart. "His knowledge and ideas are impressive. Also Billy's soccer network is excellent. We have already noticed that Billy thinks two steps ahead in the area of innovation. That's what really connects with the ambitions of AZ."

AZ are currently fourth in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football leagues. They became Dutch champions in 1981 and 2009. Endi