Former Spain head coach Roberto Moreno is believed to have been sacked from his most recent coaching role after an over-reliance on AI programme ChatGPT led to him ‘ignoring common sense’.
The 48-year-old took over the reins at Russian club FC Sochi in 2023, but last season saw Moreno adapt his methods in the dugout by using the software.
Sochi were relegated from the Russian Premier League in May 2024 at the end of his first season with the club, but during their travails in the First League for the 2024-25 campaign, club officials noticed that Moreno was increasingly utilising the technology.
The club’s former sporting director Andrei Orlov told Russian outlet Sports Russia that one of the most bizarre episodes came during an away trip to FC SKA-Khabarovsk last March.
Orlov alleged that Moreno had created a travel and training programme for his players with the help of ChatGPT and failed to adapt it when it advised that the squad should go without sleep for 28 hours.
‘When we were preparing for the trip to Khabarovsk, Robert said, via A Bola: “I have everything planned. I’ve entered all the trip parameters into ChatGPT”,’ Orlov claimed.
Former Spain head coach Roberto Moreno was alleged to have relied more on ChatGPT training programmes than using his own common sense
‘I looked at the presentation and saw that the players couldn’t sleep for 28 hours. I asked: “Robert, that’s all very well, but when are the lads going to sleep?”‘
Although the sleep deprivation exercise did not go ahead, the decision is thought to have created unease over his methods throughout his team, with Orlov adding: ‘The players didn’t understand why we had to wake up at five in the morning to train at seven’.
Orlov went on to share that Moreno had used the technology when deciding between three striker targets during the 2024-25 summer transfer window.
After sharing their data from that season, ChatGPT decided that the club would be well served by Artur Shushenachev – only for the Kazakh forward to fail to score in 10 games. Shushenachev was sold the following summer to FC Aktobe.
‘An additional tool, why not?’ Orlov added. ‘But for Moreno, ChatGPT ended up becoming one of his main tools.
‘In the end, the Russian core of the squad was very unhappy with Moreno, and the foreign players no longer trusted his ideas either. He showed no empathy for the assistants and players and people felt that.’
Sochi won promotion back to Russia’s top flight last summer, but Moreno only oversaw seven matches in the Russian Premier League at the start of his final campaign, winning just a solitary point before his dismissal.
Moreno initially joined the Russian club following positions at European sides including Granada and Monaco.
The Catalonian briefly led the Spanish national team in 2019 after then-manager Luis Enrique stepped away from his first stint as his late daughter Xana tragically fought her final battle with bone cancer.
After Moreno secured qualification for Euro 2020, Enrique returned to the dugout – but opted not to retain his long-time assistant after branding him ‘disloyal’ for attempting to hold onto the job for the duration of the tournament.
‘I have no reason to criticise him professionally,’ Enrique said of his former friend’s ruthless ambition. ‘As far as the personal goes, I had no doubts until the words said one thing and the actions said another.’
