Ian Strang is the founder of Capo, the 5-a-side football organising app for casual groups. He started building it in 2025 after 14 years of running the same Thursday night game in Berkhamsted — first with a simple spreadsheet, then a spreadsheet held together by decade-old macros, and eventually a proper app.
Every feature in Capo has been tested in real matches before it ships. The AI team balancing algorithm was built because one dominant new player started winning at +0.90 goals per game and manual team selection couldn't cope. The Grim Reaper badge was added after a new player went on an eight-game losing streak and the group started warning teammates about him before upcoming matches. The fantasy points system deliberately excludes individual goals — “The Barry factor,” as Strang calls it — after years of watching goal-hunting ruin the team dynamics. It's the app the group always wished they'd had from the start.
He writes about casual football, the data behind the game, and building software for real groups. You can read his articles on the Capo blog.
Articles by Ian
What Happens When You Track Casual Football Like the Premier League
718 matches. 4,959 goals. Fifteen years of data from one of the most obsessively tracked kickabouts in the country.
How I Used a Genetic Algorithm to Balance Teams
The story behind the AI that powers fair 5-a-side teams — written by the person who built it.
The Complete Guide to Organising a Weekly Five-a-Side
Everything you need to run a successful weekly game — from finding players to keeping numbers up for years.
How to Pick Fair Teams for Five-a-Side (Without the Arguments)
Why manual team selection always causes complaints — and what actually works.