UEFA on Monday signed an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA), a first-of-its-kind collaboration, to monitor the movements of crowds of supporters, observe the effect of the presence of football stadiums on local life and improve the sport’s environmental impact. .
Signed until December 31, 2025, the agreement will allow the introduction of “spatial innovation in professional football competitions”, explain the two institutions, who met this Monday at a conference in Lausanne (Switzerland).
A year after the incidents in the final of the Champions League from Europe at the Stade de France, the use of satellite data will help “watch crowds from space” and “identify bottlenecks in the vicinity of stadiums”, explains the ESA.
🚀 UEFA today begins a new partnership with @esa!
The relationship will allow us to leverage innovative technologies and benefit from the European Space Agency’s expertise, in addressing:
⚽ Pitch mapping
🏟️ Crowd management solutions
🌍 SustainabilityLearn more: ⬇️
— UEFA (@UEFA) May 8, 2023
UEFA will then be able to “access the history” of this data relating to specific places, and telecommunications satellites can “support overloaded terrestrial communication networks when crowds gather to follow games”.
Space technology could also help UEFA to “identify the benefits that a football stadium brings to local communities”, with socio-economic, climate and health data to make available to the 55 European associations.
Lastly, UEFA and ESA pledge to explore “the potential of these technologies to improve social and environmental solutions” in European football, a crucial topic as both the economic and ecological impact of top-level sport raise ever more questions.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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