At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, teams are turning to AI and data analysis to find a competitive edge, with Stats Perform—led by chief scientist Patrick Lucey—powering much of the global soccer ecosystem. Their technology underpins player scouting, multimillion-dollar transfer valuations, tactical planning, set-piece routines, contract negotiations, and broadcasting. The ball itself will carry sensors logging 500 movements per second via Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs), capturing fine-grained match data like never before.
FIFA is also providing every team with a bespoke AI agent powered by Lenovo, aiming to level the playing field. Smaller nations are finding creative uses for the technology: Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island of roughly 159,000 people and the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup, used "diaspora tracking"—mapping parentage and using geospatial data to scout eligible players. According to Analytics FC CEO Alex Stewart, only one of Curaçao's 26 players was actually born on the island.
National federations are increasingly using AI to guide manager selection by matching tactical strengths to squad options, and to shape squad composition based on group-stage opponents. England, for instance, is using AI for penalty analysis—work that once took five days can now potentially be done in five hours, according to the Football Association's head of performance. AI is also being applied in autonomous-vehicle-like trajectory analysis, where the permutations of player positioning on the pitch quickly explode into massive numbers.