The incredible evolution in artificial intelligence over the past two years has massively impacted numerous sectors by offering them hitherto unattainable possibilities. Amongst them, sport for its part is making the most of these new technologies to initiate its own revolution. And it promises to be vertiginous.

The date had been set for Monday, June 17, at the Martin’s Hotel in Tubize. A very apt location for this calendar period, as it happens to be the Red Devils’ base camp. It is there in fact that the Belgian players train before a match and give their press interviews. 

But this Monday, there is no open training the public can attend, nor any event connected to our national team (the squad being in Cologne for a Euro 2024 match against Slovakia we will hurriedly move on from), but instead an eagerly awaited conference on the theme of sports tech. This portmanteau word encompasses a rapidly expanding ecosystem. And to explain it, there is nothing quite like beginning with a short definition of the concept.

Sports tech is the contraction of two words: sport and technologies. The idea here is to use the full range of new technologies, whether they be material but also and primarily digital, in the service of sport. And when we say sport, we are not solely talking of the people who practice it (either professionally or as amateurs), but also of the rules which govern it, and the organisation which exists so that sport is practiced in the right conditions and can be, where required, experienced optimally by the spectators. 

An event to place Belgium amongst the pioneers

But let us return to the event in question, which more broadly takes place within the scope of the Belgian Sports Tech platform’s activities. Launched through the initiative of Agoria, which brings together the actors of the Belgian technology industry, the platform numbers amongst its ranks several particularly valuable partnerships, such as the Belgian Football Association and EVS, the uncontested leader of video productions in the world of sport (the slow-motion sequences you see during every football game, that is all down to them).

In terms of its mission, Sports Tech’s goal is to present Belgium’s advances in terms of innovation and above all to draw in and unite Belgian start-ups around the vast challenges which are constantly emerging within the sector.

Because whilst the structure has been in existence since 2021, over the past two years it has been given an incredible boost with the emergence of artificial intelligence. This acceleration therefore requires enlisting companies specialised in these technologies in order to propose innovative concepts. And to aid these companies, the collective group in charge of running the platform is not exclusively dedicated to handling the communication aspects, but offers a helping hand not only in terms of coaching but also funding, as Nicolas Bourdon, a member of the platform, explains. ‘Far too many Belgian start-ups active in the sports world have to operate abroad to find financial and structural support internationally with a view to developing their activities. Sports Tech Belgium aims to become the connection point between the world of business companies and sporting organisations, encouraging entrepreneurial initiatives and positioning sports technologies at the forefront on a global level.’

Artificial intelligence to the rescue of referees…

If there is one component of sport which had been waiting for technology for a long time, it is referring. Because when one talks of the decisions taken by an individual, innumerable discussions about those said decisions are inevitably never far behind, often going hand-in-hand with one side or another making accusations of influence and even corruption.

In football in particular, we have seen digital technologies becoming integrated into the running of the game for a good while, and they have done so in increasingly advanced and ingenious ways. Amongst the earliest examples, there is goal-line technology, which involves establishing if the ball has crossed the goal-line or not. If it has done, the referees receive a signal on their watches, allowing them to make the correct decisions. 

Along the same lines, ever more sophisticated systems have been developed to decide whether or not an outfield player is in an offside position. For those who have not fully grasped the rules, offside is signalled when an outfield player finds themselves behind the ten opposing outfield players at the moment one of their teammates plays a pass. In that situation, the game is halted and a freekick is awarded to the opposing team. 

This phase of play often comes down to a couple of centimetres, even millimetres. Here again, ever increasingly sophisticated technologies have been put in place. Today involving a very high number of sensors placed within the ball and in the stadium. They send their data to an artificial intelligence which decides in a few hundredths of a second whether or not a player is in an offside position.

Finally, a new technology has just been integrated for hand ball fouls. In fact, the ball at present contains a sensor which, when it is touched, emits a signal. This signal is analysed by a specialised AI which detects if a player’s hand has been involved. If it has, the referee is informed and can whistle for a foul. We have very recently had the very painful experience of this technology when a goal scored by Belgium was ruled out against Slovakia in the first round of games in the Euro 2024 group phase. We did say that we wouldn’t mention it again, but there you go.

But football is far from being the only sport to be given a helping hand by technology. In gymnastics, for example, an artificial intelligence has been integrated to aid the sport’s judges. Launched at the Stuttgart World Championships, it was used to adjudicate when the marks awarded were contested, or when there were discrepancies between them which were considered to be too large. And whilst it is human beings who do have the last word, discussions are already under way about including AI as a fully-fledged judge in future competitions.

In tennis, the referees are for their part quite simply becoming an endangered species. The reason is Hawk-Eye, the sobriquet given to the artificial intelligence now employed in all high-level matches. Once again, it is on two levels that the system functions. The first consists of a network of cameras placed strategically all around the court. The second is an AI which, in a flash, assesses the position of the ball and establishes whether it is within the confines of the court or not. Unlike human line judges, Hawk-Eye quite simply commits no errors, and disputed calls are no longer possible. As a consequence, from 2025, this historic ‘profession’ will disappear from the tennis courts.

Looking for a new star

But whilst refereeing is one of the aspects in which technology is integrated in impressive ways, there is another sector which is not about to be outdone, that of scouting. This term designates the search in every sport for athletes with sufficient potential to become the stars of tomorrow. Kevin De Bruyne, Justine Henin, Nafissatou Thiam or Remco Evenepoel. All these Belgian sports stars, who are hovering or who have hovered near the summit of the world rankings, have at one time or another been spotted by observers who have come to scour the athletics tracks, the tennis courts, the football pitches or races organised locally in our small country. 

Scouts, as they are called, who, for periods involving entire decades, are the ones who have been able to see in young fledgling athletes the generations of champions who are household names now. But whilst their work is incredible, it is clear that the observers cannot be everywhere and cannot judge 100% of the potential of each youth they have scrutinised. Which tells these first-class specialists that it is likely that numerous other prodigies have not been detected in time, and have therefore not been able to break through.

And once again, it is artificial intelligence which is asked to do the work. And it does so primarily by means of video. By filming the meetings or the competitions they have come to observe, the scouts can have hundreds, even thousands, of hours viewed by an algorithm specially trained for the task. This algorithm, by for example leaning on the evolution of the statistics of athletes already at their best level, can make comparisons with the performances of the athletes and players filmed.

Already used by numerous clubs and sports associations, these new resources mean that new potential stars can be invested in by reducing the risks on the investments made. And that is just the start, because these AIs are equipped with a ‘learning’ function which allows them to learn even more on each new analysis and on each new decision which is taken. The potential of these new systems is therefore quite vertiginous. 

Athletes’ health scrutinised by digital microscope 

Because they can have a significant impact on the careers of athletes and on the financial losses incurred by the clubs or the associations which employ them, injuries and other medical complications are at the heart of developments linked to the new technologies. They are principally focused on prevention.

To this end, the artificial intelligences developed analyse a very large amount of data. This data may be accrued over the long term, such as the history of injuries and the biomechanical and physiological information concerning athletes over their whole career. It can also be based on given moments, such as actions or situations statistically defined as being potential risks for sustaining an injury. Finally, they can be anchored in the immediate, in for example observing the movements of an athlete putting in an all-out effort and in detecting potentially abnormal movements of the sportsperson’s joints. 

The ensemble of these collections of data and observations will subsequently enable the algorithms to establish the most likely diagnoses in the event of pain and physical niggles, and to spontaneously suggest the most adapted types of training, stretching or even rehabilitation processes.

A revolution once again in this case, which it is very safe to assume will be a game-changer in the coming years.

A new means of experiencing sport

As it should be clear by now, for both athletes and for the structures which employ them, AI has become an absolutely vital ally. But it is equally so for the fans and the supporters who love to follow their favourite team or athlete. Because if sport is today an industry which is worth some hundreds of billions of Euros, it is also and above all thanks to the passion it triggers globally. And if, both media-wise and on the social networks, sport is already ubiquitous, its processing and the means by which it is broadcast could equally drastically evolve in the future.

A few examples? Let us start with the live broadcasting of sports events. To this end, artificial intelligence will make the experience of fans more immersive by providing statistics live, updates of scores, graphics of players’ performances and information on injuries. 

But further still, it will equally be capable of offering spectators the possibility of deciding which camera angle they wish to privilege. And even, in a few years (or months) time, with the aid of a virtual headset, to be able to experience the perceptions of a player on the pitch.

In terms of content also, a considerable revolution is already underway. Artificial intelligence will in effect be increasingly used to greatly improve the fans’ experience during sports events. It will enable more personalised and engaging content to be created by analysing the preferences and the interactions of the fans. 

For example, a sports streaming service could recommend matches or events based on the spectator’s viewing history, or generate analyses in real time relevant to their interests. AI could also analyse fans’ facial expressions, comments and reactions during a match to gauge emotions such as excitement or disappointment, and adapt the experience in real time. Finally, it could offer product recommendations or special offers on the basis of fans’ data. All the ingredients required to make an already gigantic business take a next-level step.

Organisation in the crosshairs

Finally, artificial intelligence will also be widely put to work within the scope of the organising of sporting events. One of the major laboratories of the integration of this new technology will be the Olympic Games which commence in a few days in Paris. 

Amongst the sectors it will cover will be the security of these events, a key issue. An algorithm will in particular be used in tandem with surveillance cameras to observe potential crowd surges or unusual behaviour. But more generally, AI will also serve to predict the movements of the visitors to avoid congestion and improve circulation during the busiest periods. It will also enable the itineraries of public transport to be planned and the real-time management of the number of shuttles required to ensure fluidity for the journeys of the tens of thousands of people who have turned up to witness the achievements of their favourite teams and athletes.

In terms of the ticketing system, AI could also effectively combat the handling of stolen entrance tickets and also their counterfeiting, in using amongst other methods facial recognition as a means of secondary verification. Through augmented reality applications, it will also, finally, ensure that the visitors will be guided through the labyrinths sports arenas can prove to be. 

Much more remains to be said, so numerous are the spheres of action in which artificial intelligence will revolutionise sport. Without even including the numerous solutions which are currently being developed or are still at the consideration phase. And at that level, with Sports Tech Belgium, Belgium is clearly positioning itself with the ambition to become, why not, a giant within this sector with quite simply gigantic potential.

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