September 25 – Germany’s Bundesliga has tested the first applications of its 5G mobile stadia plan with Vodafone at Vfl Wolfsburg’s Volkswagen Arena as part of a live demonstration for their home game against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
Selected fans in the stadium were also able to test the prototype of the new real-time app that delivers, over 5G, enhanced match statistics, including player performance data. Stats include, for example, how quickly a striker runs up to the rival team’s goal and how successful his previous shots on goal were.
“5G is the beginning of a new era – and the Bundesliga is taking the first step. Together with Vodafone and VfL Wolfsburg, we are able to present this new application that underlines what the new technology is capable of. An increasing number of football spectators use an additional screen to provide themselves with further information during the match,” said DFL CEO Christian Seifert.
The data collection uses 3.6 million position data points and 1,600 match events (such as goals, passes and fouls) per match that are distributed by the DFL subsidiary Sportec Solutions. ChyronHego has introduced a new visual tracking system making it possible to capture all players, the ball and the referees more precisely and deliver the live position data with greater accuracy than previously achieved.
“We are expanding the stadium experience for football fans. Information from the digital world and emotions from the stadium are melting together. In the future, statistics fans will be able use their smartphone to view all the information in real time that is otherwise available only on the “Sportschau” in the evening,” said Vodafone Deutschland CEO Hannes Ametsreiter.
Vodafone has set up 5G antennas and its own computer centre (Mobile Edge Cloud) in the Volkswagen Arena directly under the stadium roof. This keeps the distance the data has to travel short and enables it to reach fans’ smartphones in real time.
The Bundlesliga says it will roll out the 5G app into more stadia with Düsseldorf likely to be the next venue.
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