Hummel enter Premier League with record Everton deal
May 20 – Danish sports and leisurewear brand hummel has signed a club-record technical partnership with Premier League Everton.
Technical
Nike renew with Brighton as former club Man City unveil new Puma kits
July 2 – Nike have extended their kit deal with Premier League Brighton & Hove Albion for three years, taking them through to the end of the 2021/22 season.
LaLiga to kick off new Puma technical deal next season
April 16 – Puma will become LaLiga’s official technical partner from the start of the 2019/20 season, and will supply the official match ball for all matches in LaLiga Santander and La Liga 1|2|3.
Barca invest in their future with launch of Innovation Hub
March 23 – FC Barcelona have officially unveiled their Barça Innovation Hub (BIH) with the aim of positioning the club as the leader in sports knowledge, innovation and technology.
Saints head to US with Under Armour for pre-season prep
June 24 – Premier League Southampton are the latest English club to announce that they will spend some part of their pre-season preparation in the US. Although not competing in the International Champions Cup being held in the US in July, Saints will be on the East coast of the US at a training camp in Baltimore.
West Ham stamp their mark on London’s Olympic Stadium
May 30 – West Ham have planning approval to instal Europe’s largest in-stadium digital screen at the Olympic Stadium as part of a wrap around the stadium carrying the club’s colours and logo.
Italy chosen to be test bed for video ref technology
April 18 – Italy has been selected by football’s law-makers as the first major league to test technology for video replays.
Virtually Live and STATS test first VR match on Scottish League Cup final
March 16 – Virtually Live teamed up with STATS LLC to test their virtual reality technology for the first time on a European football match in Europe covering the Scottish League Cup final on March 13 at Hampden Park – Ross County beat Hibernian 2-1.
SciSports raises €1.35m to develop its 3D match analysis solution
January 29 – Start-up Dutch firm SciSports has raised €1.35 million to develop its BallJames three-dimensional pixel technology that is used to enhance football data analysis.
Sportradar widens its investor base and signs FAM data deal
By Mark Baber
October 29 – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) has signed a deal with sports data provider Sportradar to set up a football management system allowing it to better manage its leagues, data collection and distribution.
Wearable technology pioneer takes game data analysis to next level
By Ben Nicholson
October 26 – As the date nears for companies to present their electronic performance and tracking systems to IFAB and FIFA, Insideworldfootball has spoken to wearable technology market pioneers Catapult about how far the technology can inform decision-making, including in-game, how it can be used generally, and what FIFA/IFAB are looking for.
FIFA to take leap into the wearable technology world
By Ben Nicholson
October 19 – FIFA, alongside The International Football Association Board (IFAB), are looking to develop standardised wearable-technology. FIFA and IFAB have invited producers of electronic performance and tracking systems (EPTS) to present their systems.
Adidas extends deal with Spanish until 2026
By Mark Baber
September 9 – Adidas is extending its partnership with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) until 2026. Under the terms of the partnership, which had originally been scheduled to run until 2018, the German group will continue to supply kits and apparel to all RFEF teams, including the Spanish national football team.
Chelsea plug in to Wipro’s ‘commando force’ to boost its digital outreach globally
By Mark Baber
September 4 – Chelsea has unveiled Wipro, the Bangalore, India-based multi-national global information technology company, as the club’s new official digital and IT partner. Last week Manchester United announced a similar digital partnership with another Indian technology company, HCL Technologies.
Man Utd partner with HCL to drive new digital frontier to club’s fans
By David Owen
September 2 – As television and the globalised market for players fuel the increasing internationalisation of the fan bases of leading football clubs, digital technology is of growing importance for clubs seeking to communicate with, and generate revenue from, these supporters.