Òscar Lago Domínguez, who has been a prominent figure in European football production since the 1990s and lead match director for Mediapro since 2015, provided far-reaching insights during his directing masterclass, held as part of the Production Workshops programme at SVG Europe’s Football Summit 2025 in Manchester on 20 March.

Lago’s career began in the mid-1980s, but he regards the Barcelona 1992 Summer Olympics as the first pivotal moment in his career. Subsequently, he has worked as a director on sports including basketball, hockey and Formula 1, but it’s apparent that he has a particular passion for football. Since 2015 he has been lead match director for Mediapro, working extensively on LaLiga coverage, the ongoing evolution of which provided a primary focus for his Football Summit masterclass.

“I usually like to compare the job of a match director to an orchestra conductor. We are in front of a large and talented team, and what we need to do is to help them bring out the best in themselves.”

While he perceives innovation as being a mainstay of football production, the unifying function of the director also remains a constant. “I usually like to compare the job of a match director to an orchestra conductor,” he said. “We are in front of a large and talented team, and what we need to do is to help them bring out the best in themselves. Therefore, don’t be too harsh when they make a mistake and recognise when they do something good… By doing it this way, they are more confident in their work and they can feel prepared to do their best during the transmission.”

SVG Europe together with event partner GRUP MEDIAPRO will host the Sports Production Innovation Summit in Barcelona on 12 June. The Summit will explore cutting-edge advancements in sports production, focusing on the latest innovations in AI-driven production, cloud-based workflows, content creation for emerging and challenger sports and the future of centralised and remote production.
For more information, visit svgeurope.org/sports-production-innovation-summit-2025

Directorially, he thinks that the individual national styles that were more evident in the 1990s have given way to a more universal approach, due in no small part to the centralised production that has arisen around the major competitions. “We have learned from each other, and today we can say that our styles are not the same but [we do all work with] the main rules, so we have convergence in that sense.”

High camera count

Explaining how he plans for LaLiga fixtures, Lago said: “We are working every weekend for the First Division with around 18-25 cameras, and for some matches – like the last El Clásico – we used 37 cameras, including cinematic cameras. [The high number of cameras] is different from the usual plan directors use in Europe.”

Outlining the reasons for this approach, he added: “I try to have the main camera be my camera 6 instead of camera 1. The cameras from the main camera to the left are 6 to 1, and the cameras to the right that are used live are in increasing number from 6 to 12. So we have 36 or 37 cameras, but to cut live we use normally 12 to 15 – no more than that. That way it’s easier to find the shots that I need. [These cameras also constitute] my monitor wall and so without moving my head I can cut to all the cameras that I need during the match.”

When it comes to close-ups, Lago prefers to cut to pitch-side cameras in order to better convey “the expression and the motion of the player”. If, for example, the player is facing to the left then he will cut to the camera that is next to the left side of the goal, instead of the one that is nearest to the player, thereby “avoiding players crossing in front of the camera; the front shot will then be a side-shot or one that captures the back of the player.”

Having talked attendees through some notable clips from his vast directorial back-catalogue and confirmed that the pacing of each match has a significant bearing on the speed of the live cuts, Lago spoke about some of LaLiga’s recent innovations. For instance, during the pandemic, the production and technical teams spent several months adapting existing tools to “build virtual fans in the stands, avoiding that bad feeling of watching a match in an empty stadium”.

Post-Covid, they thought about how this virtual technology might be repurposed. Ultimately, they set about adding new data capabilities to create augmented reality graphics with new metrics to show on-screen, including where players are attacking to the left or the right, and the heat map over the pitch. All striking innovations, although Lago emphasised: “It’s important that the use of this technology and these graphics doesn’t affect the usual work of the director during the match.”

Grant Philips, executive producer at Sunset+Vine Scotland, asked if Lago ever experienced nerves before a big match. “No, no,” he responded, before adding that “the feeling I have before the big matches is that I won’t be able to do it. It’s not fear; it’s more about my respect for the job and the doubt I have of myself keeping me on my toes during the match.” Hence, added Lago, it could be that “staying calm is one of the best skills you can have”.

Team tactics

Noting that “innovation never stops” and that he expects “more and more remote production” to be implemented over the next five years, Lago closed with some words of advice for aspiring or up-and-coming football directors. “For the younger ones who want to be directors, or for the people that are already in the industry and want to move into directing, my advice is that they should love football,” he said. “They should watch as many matches as they can, and not only from their country, but also from other countries.”

They should also never forget that directing is far from being a one-person role. “It’s a team job because directors need a talented and committed team working with us. If not, we are nothing. They should also respect [their team members], encourage them to improve and, as I said before, avoid being too harsh with them when they make a mistake. We all make mistakes and to encourage people when they do something good [ensures that they feel] more comfortable working and can really show their best during the matches.”

Football Summit 2025, sponsored by EVS, took place at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on 20 March.