Artificial intelligence was once again the big talking point during the biennial SportsInnovation event which took place this week in Düsseldorf (4-5 March 2026).

Organised by D.Sports and the DFL, the event is designed to showcase new technologies, and offer up unique perspectives, and immersive experiences, for not just broadcasting and media, but also officiating, fan engagement, stadium tech and player performance.

But across the two days of conference sessions, seminars and workshops, irrespective of the topic, it was the use of, and challenges associated with AI, in its various forms, including GenAI and Agentic AI, that created the biggest buzz inside the Merkur Spiel-Arena, home of Bundesliga 2 club Fortuna Düsseldorf.

In his opening keynote, Dr. Steffen Merkel, CEO of the DFL (pictured above), discussed the integration of technology to enhance German professional football, emphasising the importance of creating added value for clubs, partners, and fans. Key technologies for him include automated cameras, remote production, and AI-driven processes.

“The question is not if AI will shape football, but how proactively the league can turn alignment into a competitive advantage.”

He highlighted innovations like 3D tracking and semi-automated offside detection that aim to improve competition quality, fairness, and integrity. The use of data, with over 200 million data points per match, provides new insights and enhances the sport’s measurability and understanding.

“AI makes many things easier, [and] for us as a league, it masters complex processes, can handle repetitive tasks at scale, and is constantly learning,” he said. “It is becoming ever more creative and helps us to better understand and meet fan-needs, a powerful lever for greater efficiency and personalisation, which we intend to use purpose, but also carefully.”

To further its development, the DFL has teamed up with the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, for a study on the future potential of AI.

While many organisations are still exploring practical uses, he explained, the early results of the study suggest that there is a growing readiness to adopt AI, particularly in core sporting areas such as training, performance analysis and coaching but also personalised content. He stressed that the league’s role is to share knowledge and develop best practices so that it can benefit the Bundesliga: “The question is not if AI will shape football, but how proactively the league can turn alignment into a competitive advantage.”

More than 70 people have been consulted on the study, which will be released in full in “a few weeks”, he said, before concluding that “AI is not just a gimmick.”

Dominik Scholler, DFL VP of product management and innovation, during a panel session, also discussed the use of AI, but in his case, it was specifically in relation to supporting media tasks.

He said: “One of the key questions is, indeed, how can, for example, AI and automation support creative processes? Because I think we still need the human in the loop. We still need the creativity also when it comes to cutting a signal or cutting a content piece. And I think there we will see further developments, probably also then at the next SportsInnovation in two years.

“In the meanwhile, also speaking about international localisation is a very important topic for us, where we also invest a lot from our side, because we know many fans prefer to watch content in their native languages. And I think there are great opportunities in the world feed and to localise that one, but also post-produce content, digital clips. And I think there, we are very excited surely, and I’m very looking forward to that future.”

An article going into more depth with Scholler on the subject of AI and automation will be published by SVG Europe in the coming days.

In a breakout session called ‘Bridging the gap between digital and linear workflows, where tech and AI plays a role’, Sky Germany SVP of sports production Alessandro Reitano reiterated the Sky principles of ‘live first’ and ‘story first’ rather than ‘channel first’.

The digital content is now vital to Sky’s ecosystem, he said.  “We have multiple outputs, and we have to pick up our customers where they are, so there is a new narrative. It is always live first. This is your proposition. Then you have the digital extension, [before and after], where you are wrapping up everything. We have introduced a hub structure and smart workflows [at Sky], but at the end of the day, it means picking up the story at the right moment and pushing as hard as possible to gain momentum for live first.”

Other AI debates included the role of AI in player development and management: could AI ever replace a team coach at a sports club? Sportrader chief product, technology and AI officer Behshad Behzadi and AWS global head of sports Julie Souza had very different and polarising views on that particular topic.

The event was also an opportunity for the DFL to highlight its recent match coverage developments, many of which form part of its ‘Closer to the Game’ concept.

Among the innovations on show, demoed as part of an immersive in-stadium match experience for delegates that featured a full broadcast set-up and youth team players from Bundesliga clubs, were: the AGITO robotic video camera dolly from Motion Impossible which was using updated Vislink transmission technology; drones in various sizes, including one with both a FPV camera and a camera on mini gimble from Skynamic, and another from Theis Media; and the Muybridge “weightless” volumetric camera system deployed behind the goal on an advertising hoarding.

Automated camera technology, which makes use of AI, supported by Mark Roberts Motion Control, was also part of the demo, as were live locker room cameras.  

Scholler said: “We have more and more fragmented audiences and football is definitely going these days beyond the 90 minutes, and that’s also what we see. What fans and our media partners demand from us is that we show what is happening behind the scenes.”

SportsInnovation 2026 took place in Düsseldorf 4-5 March 2026.