July 7 – The Premier League has signed a five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft, appointing the tech giant as its official cloud and AI partner in a deal that will see it upgrade its global digital operations and fan engagement.
Announced last week, the agreement will see Microsoft underpin the Premier League’s entire digital transformation strategy, including the migration of core infrastructure to the Azure cloud platform. The partnership will also embed AI services, including Azure OpenAI, across league operations, broadcast analysis and fan-facing tools.
A key development will be the launch of a new ‘Premier League Companion”’ — an AI-powered digital assistant that allows fans to explore club, player and match information via conversational prompts. The league is aiming to leverage Microsoft’s AI models to create more dynamic, interactive experiences for its reported 1.8 billion fans across 189 countries.
From a broadcast and data standpoint, the partnership will introduce real-time match overlays, enhanced in-game statistics and richer post-match analysis. These features will be powered by Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry and will be integrated into both live and archived content.
While the headline elements focus on fan experience, there are also substantial implications for the Premier League’s back-end operations. Centralising and streamlining digital infrastructure through Azure is expected to boost scalability, data security and innovation speed across all league systems.
This is one of the Premier League’s most comprehensive technology agreements to date and reflects the increasing importance of AI and cloud services in elite sport. For Microsoft, it reinforces a long-term push into global sports properties, aligning with similar work across U.S. leagues and Olympic federations.
No financial terms were disclosed, but the scale and depth of the partnership suggest a high-value, multi-layered deal that gives Microsoft prominent exposure and strategic influence over one of the world’s most lucrative sporting products.
Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, said: “We are delighted to welcome Microsoft as a partner of the Premier League. This partnership will help us engage with fans in new ways – from personalised content to real-time match insights.
“We look forward to working together over the next five years to deliver more innovative experiences to all Premier League supporters around the world.”
“We are pleased to partner with the Premier League to bring innovative and interactive experiences to football fans around the world,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft.
“By leveraging our secure cloud and AI technologies—including Azure AI Foundry Services with Azure OpenAI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Dynamics 365 —we will transform how football is experienced, delivered, and managed on and off the field.”
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at moc.l1752044387labto1752044387ofdlr1752044387owedi1752044387sni@g1752044387niwe.1752044387yrrah1752044387