Magnus Carlsen invests in tech-enabled soccer experience company Toca Football

Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated player in history, has invested in Toca Football. The Norwegian Carlsen is an avid soccer fan who in 2019 ranked first out of more than seven million participants in the Fantasy Premier League, quipping to The Guardian that, “In fantasy football, I’m both an optimist and an Optamist,” referring to the Opta event data used to power many soccer analytics.

Toca Football, meanwhile, provides tech- and data-driven training academies and is the official training partner of Major League Soccer. Among its existing athlete ambassadors are Angel City FC players Alyssa and Gisele Thompson as well as England’s men’s and women’s national team captains, Harry Kane and Leah Williamson. In a statement, Carlsen described “a lot of crossover between chess and soccer” in terms of strategy and tactics.