Soccer has xG. Now it has xC. Sinch reveals AI-powered ranking of soccer's most authentic managers

STOCKHOLM, June 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Will this summer's soccer managers remind us that there are "no easy games at this level"? Will they insist that their players have "given 110%"? Or will they offer something fans haven't heard a thousand times before? As the world's biggest soccer tournament gets underway, Sinch AB (publ), the communications platform powering more than 900 billion customer interactions every year, today launches the AI-powered xC Tracker - a first-of-its-kind ranking that analyzes every press conference throughout the tournament to reveal which national team managers communicate most clearly and authentically under pressure, and which are most likely to fall back on soccers's favourite clichés.

On the xC Tracker website, visitors can follow the rankings as the AI-powered tracker analyzes every pre- and post-match press conference delivered by the tournament's 48 national team managers. From the opening match to the final, the tracker examines communication patterns across multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Arabic, measuring how often managers fall back on stock phrases rather than offering genuine insight.

A manager who talks about "taking it one game at a time" and insists that "the boys gave everything" will score higher on xC than one who provides specific observations, tactical insight or original reflections. The tracker will reveal which coaches bring fresh thinking to the microphone and which rely on soccers's most familiar clichés.

"Sinch powers billions of customer interactions every year, helping businesses deliver the right message to the right person at the right moment. For this year's tournament, we're applying that same communication expertise to one of the world's biggest sporting events.
Soccer gave us xG. We thought it was time someone measured xC, expected clichés. Anyone who has watched a post match interview knows that certain phrases come up again and again. At Sinch, we help businesses communicate effectively under pressure every day. Through billions of interactions between companies and their customers, we know what it takes for a message to land at the right moment. We wanted to find out whether soccer managers do too," said Robert Gerstmann, Chief Evangelist and Co Founder of Sinch.

Throughout the tournament, the xC Tracker will monitor:

• Live rankings of the tournament's clearest and most authentic communicators.
• Each manager's xC score and how it changes after wins and losses.
• The most frequently used soccer clichés across different languages.
• Which managers improve their communication performance as the tournament progresses.
• Which national team coach will win soccers's first-ever Press Conference Ballon d'Or.
• Rich data and statistics that journalists, commentators and soccer fans can use to add a fresh communication perspective to their tournament coverage and analysis.

The tracker will also reveal whether managers become more predictable as the pressure intensifies, or whether soccers's biggest personalities can avoid telling reporters that it was simply "a game of two halves."

Sinch powers more than 900 billion customer interactions every year for more than 200,000 businesses worldwide. By analyzing soccers's biggest press conferences, the company is applying its expertise in communication and AI to understand how people communicate when every word matters.

Whether you're speaking to millions of soccer fans or millions of customers, the challenge remains the same: saying the right thing at the right moment.

For further real-time data analysis once the tournament officially kicks off on 11 June, please visit Sinch's xC Tracker.

Methodology

The xC Tracker – powered by Sinch – analyses every coach press conference at the 2026 World Cup, measuring responses against a 205-phrase dictionary of soccer clichés across six languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Arabic. Each phrase was verified by native-speaking editors and only included if it appeared repeatedly across major tournament press conferences, could apply regardless of result, and would be recognized by fans as a familiar soccer fallback. The AI detects exact matches, variations and paraphrased responses, while each phrase is assigned a cliché score from 3–10 based on how overused it is. References to religion, personal hardship or condolences are excluded from analysis.

For more information, please contact:
Fredrik Hallstan
Director Corporate Communications Mobile: +46 761 15 38 30
E-mail: [email protected] 

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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SOURCE Sinch AB