What FIFA sees as the specific technological needs of the game

FIFA has this week launched three new challenges under its Innovation Programme:

• Improving the end-to-end fan journey (linked to new year's FIFA Women's World Cup) — from discovering the tournament and purchasing tickets to traveling to the stadium and navigating the matchday experience;
• Exploring wearable solutions that are able to accurately assess new physical and physiological metrics relating to players in real time during training sessions and/or matches, e.g. those that provide data on hydration, load, recovery and stress; and,
• Development of connected substitution boards that can be linked to existing substitution management software and automate the display of player numbers to stadium audiences.

This provides a particularly interesting insight into what the game's global governing body sees as the key needs in the game. 

With respect to the first challenge, it appears that FIFA is keen to follow in the footsteps of organisations such as the NBA and NFL, which have been at the forefront of fan participation and engagement technology recently, with great success. Therefore, it looks like FIFA is keen to make the matchday experience as seamless and engaging as possible, to enhance the value fans get from going to a game.  

With respect to the second challenge, it is fascinating to see how rapidly sports wearables are developing, and the value of the data that can be gained from them to help optimize performance levels - from professional athletes to grassroots and amateur levels. In what feels like only a matter of a few years, fitness wearables have gone from simply tracking sleep, steps and heart rate, to FIFA now looking for advanced solutions into far more complex metrics. On the face of it, such innovations may appear to be used for performance optimisation - but it looks like this one may also be linked to player safety and wellbeing, as this may help to prevent injury caused by overload stress and/or fatigue.  

Finally, as well as enhancing fan experience, the final challenge appears to address the efficiency of substitutions, helping to reduce the amount of administrative work that needs to be done when a sub is made, ultimately speeding up the process. 

The FIFA Innovation Programme is an initiative that bridges the gap between early stage ideas, prototypes, and global football standards. The programme supports solutions for both gameplay (such as refereeing tech and player tracking) and broader areas like fan engagement, player health, and sustainability; with FIFA periodically releasing specific challenges targeting the needs of the game, both on and off the field. 

From experience of working with innovators in both the sporting and energy sectors, such structured programmes allow for effective and rapid development of products, which can be vital for commercial success. From an IP perspective, it is also excellent to see that all technology ownership remains with the creator, the programme acting only as a collaboration and testing framework rather than an acquisition pipeline. 

Interestingly, while creators may keep their innovations, FIFA will maintain ownership over any data generated during matches or official trials.

Again, from an interesting IP angle, if a technology transitions out of the Innovation Programme and is fully adopted for global football (such as automated offside technology or referee body cameras), FIFA will enter into licensing or procurement contracts with the inventor/company; with the inventor/company operating as an official technology supplier, charging FIFA for the use of their proprietary tech. 

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