The innovative AI brand have released the following statement about the partnership:

Arguably the greatest midfielder of all time, De Bruyne’s partnership with BALLN heralds a new era in the accessibility of AI technology in helping young footballers achieve their dreams. A two-time English Premier League Champion (Manchester City), and a two-time English Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, De Bruyne’s on-field skillset epitomizes the ethos of the BALLN app, which attempts to help its users become more complete players through its gamified AI experience.

Through his partnership, De Bruyne will promote BALLN to his 30M+ social media followers as an effective training tool and connect with other BALLN users through a series of social media challenges.

The deal was negotiated by Michael Yormark, President of Roc Nation Sports International where De Bruyne is part of a robust roster of football and rugby players.

“I am excited by the potential for AI technology to create engaging gamified experiences that can drive children to be more physically active,” Kevin De Bruyne said. “The BALLN app engages athletes in a fun and playful way, allowing the athlete to achieve performance gains outside of their regular training week.”

“I am excited about how the product allows elite athletes like Kevin De Bruyne to connect with their audience through the in-app experience,” Yormark said. “We are looking forward to working with Kevin De Bruyne and BALLN to make the app a household name.”

BALLN uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) technology to transform any modern mobile phone into a powerful player and ball tracking tool to rate a player’s abilities. The BALLN AI and AR make for a highly engaging and fun experience to rate a player’s shooting, pace, dribbling, agility, first touch, passing, reaction speed and ball control capabilities.

The apps AI ratings are represented on a player card, allowing players to understand their strengths and weaknesses and know what to work on next to become a more complete player. With just a mobile phone, BALLN brings AI to all grassroots players, regardless of their ability or aspirations, to help them improve and complete their game.

BALLN’s approach has already resulted in tens of thousands of footballers being more active at home than they otherwise would have been playing typical sit-down-based computer games. BALLN provides over 350 masterclass videos for any player that wants to improve any of the skills related to the BALLN player card. The application’s mission is to improve the lives of everyday youth footballers aged 8-17.

“BALLN is like having a coach in your pocket, but the coach in this sense is an AI, a fun AI, which can help you understand your strengths and weaknesses in a playful way and what actions you can take to develop a more complete game,” said Andrew Hall, CEO of BALLN. “BALLN uses gamification techniques to drive user engagement and promote a reward for participation, not a pay to progress approach of many computer games. At BALLN, we believe in the engaging power of AI and gamification to help our audience become more active.”