Innovation and Technology in La Liga Football

La Liga has a long history as a world-class league and continues to be a great stage for top-quality soccer. The competition, which was founded in 1929, has produced some of the best teams and players of all time.

There are 20 clubs that play in the competition, with one of the lowest placed three relegated to the Segunda Division and the top two promoted from the second tier. The clubs play a double round-robin format, with each team playing every other team twice, home and away, for 38 matchdays.

A number of initiatives are undertaken to raise the profile of the competition and make it more relevant in the eyes of fans and sports lovers. These include the Fair Play Social Project, which seeks to enhance social responsibility in professional football through actions that can be commonly implemented by all clubs in this regard.

The development of technological solutions to improve the quality of audiovisual products is also one of the key pillars of LaLiga’s medium- and long-term growth strategy. This is achieved by creating an innovation and technology ecosystem that includes channels, services and data.

Digital tools developed by the organisation are commercialised through its subsidiary LaLiga Tech, which is a technology hub. These include Mediacoach, which provides advanced analytics for 42 LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank clubs; Sunlight Broadcasting Planning, which forecasts natural light conditions at stadiums in order to schedule kick-off times; Calendar Selector, which uses machine learning to suggest kick-off times that optimise TV audience and attendance figures; and a system of tracking cameras that record and monitor player and ball movement.

These technologies are used to enhance the experience of both fans and sponsors, as well as broadcasters. An acrobatic drone, for example, has filmed the whole of a LaLiga Santander ground to produce spectacular images that will be used to enhance broadcasts and programmes.

The emergence of the women’s game in Spain has also increased the demand for these technologies. This is because they are vital in promoting the participation of females in professional football and increasing women’s awareness of their rights.

As a result, LaLiga has launched an extensive programme of initiatives and projects designed to increase the visibility of women’s football throughout the world and to ensure that its members, as well as the clubs themselves, remain on the leading edge of the sport. The initiative also aims to promote the role of the women’s club as a socially responsible entity and generate value for its members.

Education is a core component of LaLiga’s activities. It has set up the LaLiga Business School, a school of business studies in conjunction with the University Francisco de Vitoria that trains the future generation of professionals in the sporting industry. The school also offers specialist courses, both in Spain and abroad.

A number of initiatives are also carried out to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities. These include the LaLiga Genuine Santander football league, which is a global pioneer in this field and features a team composed of people with ID that plays against 36 professional football clubs.