Recently, Arsenal’s Susana Ferrera, along with Victor Manas, attended the Performance Analysis and New Developments in Football congress at Atletico Madrid and we caught up with her after the event for a quick chat about it.

Manas gave a presentation at the Performance Analysis and New Developments in Football conference along with reps from Atletico and Manchester City but it was Ferreras who stood out as she seemed to be the only woman at the event.

After Manas’s presentation, Ferreras, who has over 12 years experience within the sports industry in sports management, analytics, and social media, took part in a round table discussion where she was joined by analysts from Rayo Vallecano (Ruben Reyes), Betis (Tino Luis Cabrera), and Alavés (Borja of Matthias).

“The conference was really interesting as it was focused on the work that football analysts do and how they are using new technologies to accomplish their goals,” Ferreras told me.

“It was great to learn from renowned analysts from clubs like Manchester City and Atlético de Madrid, as well as from Victor.

“The roundtable was a great opportunity to discuss the benefits of using Big Data and to hear about the future of football analysis from different perspectives, mainly from La Liga and the Premier League.”

At Arsenal, Ferreras is charged with “analysing event and tracking data, creating new metrics and algorithms and developing data products to help first team and club in the decision-making process.”

She worked previously for Vodaphone and Telefonica and also delivers university lectures.