De Boode leaves Ajax after 13 years to join AusCycling

Professor David Sumpter, the co-founder of Twelve Football, worked with De Boode at Ajax and praised the club for being one of the few to do “proper research-development”.

“Ajax is one of the few places where they are trying to do things from a more fundamental level, to understand the game from its basics,” Sumpter told Episode #46 of the TGG Podcast in February 2023. 

“What is amazing there – and a lot of this is down to Vosse de Boode, who runs the research group – is that they are doing basic research. They do a lot on free kicks, penalties, how you kick the ball, different things on training.

“That really is an amazing group of people there. I visited in June and they were sitting quite close together, they had these amazing training facilities with rooms with cameras filming how players shoot; and they make them wear glasses to see what they are looking at.”

De Boode expanded on this in a subsequent interview with the One Track Mind Podcast. 

“In the last 11 years we built a really nice research environment that still has the goal to help in day-to-day decision making rather than researching whatever is possible,” she said.

“The club has a philosophy of change, their subtitle is ‘for the future’. I feel they are a lot more open to trying new things than I hear from my colleagues at other clubs.

“The reason my own department exists within the club is to provide insights to coaches, players and staff based on objective information to be able to make better decisions. You are always looking for information that helps them with decision making.”

AusCycling is the national governing body for cycling in Australia. Writing on LinkedIn, De Boode announced her exit from Ajax.

“Next Stop: Gold! Data-Driven Journey to LA 2028,” she said.  “I’m very excited to announce that I will be joining AusCycling as their new Director of Data and Insights for the Olympic cycle leading up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

“Looking forward to working alongside the incredible team at AusCycling, contributing to the performance of Australia’s cyclists, and pushing the boundaries of innovation through data-driven insights.

“Let’s ride towards success in LA 2028 and beyond!”

De Boode has also previously said that the next big trend in football is enabling players to take control of their own data.

“I see that trend coming up,” she said. “It is like a big wave and we need to start paddling now, like a surfer. Because if you don’t, you are going to be smashed.”