The former spain national team-manager who let ChatGPT decide
An experiment that unravelled
A brief and turbulent chapter at FC Sochi ended with Robert Moreno losing his job, after a run of results that left the club near the bottom of Russia’s First League. According to The Sun, the team collected just one point from seven matches before Moreno was dismissed in September.
Moreno, a former Spain head coach, had been appointed following Sochi’s relegation from the Russian Premier League. His task was to stabilise the squad and mount a promotion challenge. Instead, performances deteriorated quickly, with supporters voicing frustration at a possession focused style that failed to produce goals and paid little attention to set piece routines.
Decisions shaped by artificial intelligence
Concerns about Moreno’s methods extended beyond tactics. According to Andrei Orlov, FC Sochi’s former sporting director, the coach increasingly relied on ChatGPT to inform planning and decision making. Orlov described the situation in an interview with Sports Russia.
“When we were preparing for a trip to Khabarovsk, Robert said, ‘I’ve got it all figured out. I’ve set up all the trip parameters in ChatGPT,’” Orlov said.
Read also: Who leads the race to host the 2030 World Cup final
The journey to Khabarovsk, one of the longest away trips in Russian football, became a flashpoint. Orlov said the schedule generated by the AI system required players to remain awake for 28 consecutive hours and report for early morning training shortly after arrival.
“I looked at the presentation, it showed that the players weren’t supposed to sleep for 28 hours,” Orlov said.
Fallout inside the squad
According to Orlov, players struggled to understand the logic of the plan, particularly given the physical demands of long distance travel across multiple time zones. Training sessions scheduled at dawn left several squad members confused and frustrated.
Orlov said Moreno did not consult players who had previously played in Khabarovsk, despite their familiarity with the conditions. One such player was Oleg Kozhemyakin, who had spent a season at SKA Khabarovsk before joining Sochi.
Read also: The unseen story behind Ronaldo and Nani’s bond
“In the end, we followed the schedule created by ChatGPT,” Orlov said.
As results failed to improve, tension grew inside the dressing room. Orlov said both Russian players and foreign signings became increasingly uneasy with Moreno’s leadership and his dependence on analytical tools over human input.
Recruitment guided by data alone
The use of artificial intelligence extended into the transfer market. According to Sports Russia, Moreno used ChatGPT to assess striker options during the summer window, feeding the system data from the Wyscout scouting platform.
“Shushenachev emerged as the best according to GPT,” Orlov said.
Read also: Formula One’s top drivers take first steps toward 2026 in closed Barcelona test
FC Sochi signed Artur Shushenachev, but the move failed to deliver. The forward did not score in 10 appearances, adding to mounting criticism of the club’s direction under Moreno.
“An additional tool, why not. But for Moreno, GPT eventually became one of his primary tools,” Orlov said.
A reputation shaped before and after Sochi
Moreno’s dismissal in Russia added another chapter to a career already marked by controversy at international level. He managed Spain on an interim basis in 2019 before being appointed permanently after Luis Enrique stepped down for family reasons.
Despite winning seven of nine matches, Moreno resigned before Euro 2020 and was replaced by Enrique, who later described his former assistant as “disloyal” and “over ambitious”.
Read also: Slot sees Champions League chance to reshape Liverpool season
At FC Sochi, the reliance on artificial intelligence came to symbolise a broader breakdown in trust between coach, players and staff. What began as an effort to gain a competitive edge instead highlighted the risks of allowing technology to override experience, communication and human judgment in elite sport.
Sources, The Sun, Sports Russia
Read also: WWE's hardest hitters exposed: AI names the real-life tough guys who don't just play tough
