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Indian-origin data expert is tech director at Newcastle United
At Newcastle, Sudarshan Gopaladesikan will oversee data operations for the club’s men’s, women’s, and academy squads.
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Pranavi Sharma - Wed, 23, Jul 2025
- 03:19 EDT
- 18
Sudarshan Gopaladesikan. / Newcastle United
Newcastle United FC has appointed Sudarshan Gopaladesikan as its new technical director ahead of the 2025–26 season. The Premier League club made the announcement on July 20. Gopaladesikan, an Indian-origin professional with a background in football data operations, joins from Italian side Atalanta, where he served as Director of Football Intelligence.
In his new role, Gopaladesikan will lead football data operations across Newcastle’s men’s, women’s, and academy teams.
His appointment comes after a successful stint at Atalanta, where he played a role in the club’s UEFA Europa League victory during the 2023–24 season and helped maintain consecutive top-five finishes in Italy’s Serie A.
Before joining Atalanta in 2022, Gopaladesikan spent five years at Portuguese club SL Benfica as Head of Sports Data Science. He began his career in India as an intern at Infosys in Bengaluru in 2012, later working there as a Research Assistant. He briefly moved to Microsoft before transitioning to football analytics in 2017 with Benfica.
Confirming his departure from Atalanta last week, Gopaladesikan shared a statement on LinkedIn reflecting on his time in Bergamo. “Yesterday was my last day at Atalanta. I am grateful for the 3 years living in Bergamo,” he wrote. “I learned a lot from each and every staff member as the club's success is largely in part to the commitment and dedication each person brings daily to work.”
He referred to a local phrase in the Bergamasque dialect—“A l'è méj la fadiga de n dì che la miséria de töt 'n an”—which he translated as, “Better one day of hard work than a whole year of misery.”
Gopaladesikan also quoted Italian journalist Beppe Severgnini, saying Bergamo was home to “practical, hard-working” people who “measure the weight of their words as they measure nails.” He concluded his note with a reference to manager Gian Piero Gasperini’s belief that “everything is built on work. Without work, you cannot go anywhere.”
He thanked the Percassi and Pagliuca families, as well as investors such as Arctos Partners, “for giving me the opportunity to learn what it means to work hard.”
“If I learned anything,” he added, “it’ll be that whatever project comes next—to approach it with full dedication and commitment, even when I am not at my best form at times.”
Newcastle United has not yet issued further details about the scope or structure of his role.
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