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SportsInnovation 2018

Meet the Future of Sports” was the title of SportsInnovation 2018, which perfectly summed up the spirit of the event. The event, organised jointly by the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and Messe Düsseldorf, took place on 8 and 9 May 2018 in the ESPRIT arena in Düsseldorf.

MunichMay 10, 2018

DFL CEO Christian Seifert stated in his keynote: ““SportsInnovation […] sends a signal to the outside world: Sport in general – as one of the most attractive media contents in the world – was and is a pacemaker for technological advancement”.

Sports journalist and author Raphael Honigstein moderated the event. At its’ core, three Innovation Matches provided the canvas for showcasing various progressive technologies from the fields of match analysis, broadcast solutions and stadium experience. At the first of these matches, played by the under-17 teams of Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, we presented a world premiere: the live tracking of players and ball and thus a new level of qualitative match analysis – fully automated, connected and in real-time. Almost 500 guests from 20 countries had the opportunity to experience our system first-hand, as we switched to a live showcase of our application while the match was being played on the pitch – including the display of automated event detections like passes, shots and counter pressing and accurate ball metrics like ball speed and possession. Our Co-founder and Managing Director Dr. Maximilian Schmidt also stated in his presentation that seamless video synchronisation and scouting data integration enable convenient analyses for trainers, coaches and analysts.

You can find an overview of the application and features of our combined player and ball tracking system in this short video:

Other highlights presented at the event included Artificial Intelligence (AI) implemented into production workflows, a new referee radio system, new camera systems, IP transmission and how it shapes the global distribution and streaming services, virtual graphic solutions and many more.

A big thank you to DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga and Messe Düsseldorf for organising this trendsetting event. We already look forward to SportsInnovation 2020!

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