LaLiga to Offer AI-Produced Matches Next Season

LaLiga President Javier Tebas has announced that fans may soon be able to watch matches broadcasted by artificial intelligence (AI) next season. Tebas participated this morning at TAIGranada alongside Granada coaches Lucas Alcaraz and Fernando Estévez. The trio discussed the advantages this new technology offers to the football world, from an audiovisual perspective to team management, decision-making in match design, and even improving players' physical performance and injury prevention.

Javier Tebas explained that LaLiga has been using artificial intelligence for years, with increased intensity in the last two or three years due to the emergence of generative AI. In the sports field, he highlighted the usefulness of tools like Mediacoach, which aids in statistical tracking of performance, efforts, fatigue, or injury risks of players.

"In the audiovisual realm, we use it in broadcasts to predict a player's goal-scoring chances during an attack, to prevent piracy, and even to detect potential match-fixing by tracking the digital betting environment," Tebas explained. "But even the executives at the company use tools like Copilot to be more efficient. It's useful in sports, organizational, and technical aspects."

Tebas spoke about Álex, the virtual 'influencer' created by LaLiga, capable of answering any question about the history of football in Spain, as well as detailing the upcoming matchday. In the coming months, Álex will complete its training and be able to answer questions in thirteen languages.

However, the executive emphasized that one of the areas where AI's influence will be most noticeable is in OTT broadcasts, which will allow a two-way relationship between television and the viewer. "In two or three seasons, you'll be able to choose which cameras you want to watch the matches from, aerial, master, or goal camera, and then AI will provide a personalized broadcast based on your preferences. We might see this as early as next season in some matches. It's the future. Today, we already have automatic cameras, and production is done from studios, not stadiums," he highlighted.

The LaLiga president confessed to being an enthusiastic user of ChatGPT—"Not a day goes by without making 20 inquiries"—and stressed that everyone should get used to AI because it makes us more efficient in life and work.

In a debate moderated by the head of the Sports section of the IDEAL newspaper, Rafa Lamelas, Tebas reiterated the usefulness of the Mediacoach tool, which provides coaches with detailed live information about each player's game, the runs they make and at what speed, their success and failure statistics. "This helps you make decisions and reduce errors," he noted.

Fernando Estévez, coach of Eldense until June this year, acknowledged the progress these tools represent and recalled that not long ago, coaches still "traded CDs with other teams." But AI has its limits, he said. "We can't fall into analysis paralysis. It's valid for preparing matches, but in the whirlwind of 90 minutes, you don't have time to stop and study the data. These tools allow access to data, but the important thing is the use of data. We have dual intelligence, executive and computational, and the coach's decision-making makes the computational part useful," he explained.

Estévez also highlighted the usefulness of AI in preventing injuries among players subjected to increasing physical and mental demands. "Statistics say that each club has a cruciate ligament injury every two years, and slightly more in women. There may be more injuries, but it needs to be analyzed with coolness. Data supports decision-making. Last year, we had few injuries because we closely monitored these data when subjecting players to exertion," said the former coach, who assured that his data analyst "doesn't have a clue about football" but is a genius in his field.

The director of the Granada CF Sports City, Lucas Alcaraz, also praised the advantages AI brings to various aspects of the football world but emphasized the coach's competence. "One thing is sight, and another is vision. I believe there will never be a coach generated by AI. The challenge is not to go from data to play but from play to data. What keeps you in the position is managing the locker room, communication, results... maybe there's an open change to see how it relates to the environment. AI will never replace the quick, intuitive intelligence of the coach," he stated.