In a football first, seventh-tier side Wingate & Finchley have appointed AI (Artificial Intelligence) as their football coach in the hope it can win them three points against a non-League opponent.

The football minnows, who play in the Isthmian Premier League, will employ the AI to decide the team's starting XI, formation and tactics for their game against Whitehawk FC on February 9.

Created by a team of AI experts, the artificial intelligence will be able to provide bespoke pre-game and in-game strategies for specific opponents and, just like a human coach, will learn the more it is used to become better and more experienced.

Wingate & Finchley appoint AI as football coach for their non-League clash with Whitehawk

The football minnows will rely on the AI coach for formations, tactics and in-game strategies

Wingate & Finchley will use the artificial intelligence for their game on February 9

The AI coach will be able to select the starting XI and provide strategies before the game

The bit of tech was commissioned by The Big Bang Fair in a bid to excite youngsters about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dave Norman, manager of Wingate & Finchley, is confident that the artificial intelligence can succeed by sticking to the fundamentals of football.

He said: 'The fundamentals of football are exactly the same whether they come from a virtual coach or a human one.

'As a teacher as a well as a football manager I'm a big supporter of The Big Bang Fair's goal to get more kids into STEM, so I was more than happy to add an AI to the coaching team here at Wingate & Finchley.

'I think it will complement our set-up immensely and hopefully help us pick up three points.'

Wingate & Finchley, who play in the Isthmian League, will be the first English club to use it

Dave Norman is confident that the AI can succeed by sticking to the fundamentals of football

The seventh-tier club teamed up with The Big Bang Fair to create the project

Tim Deeson, of Greenshoot Labs, was eager to see what impact technology could make in a competitive fixture in English football.

Deeson said: 'We're eager to see what happens when you introduce AI into an environment which is typically not used to having access to it, in this case a non-league football club.

'This project demonstrates just how easy it is to do that in this day and age: in just a few short weeks we have been able to develop an AI system for a team that they can easily query and interact with that helps them dig deeper into what sort of playing approach they could have.

'Over time the AI will learn from the data it gathers and can become an even more insightful tactical aid.'