Uefa will monitor supporters with the help of the space agency – 05/08/2023 – Sport

UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) signed this Monday (8) an agreement with ESA (European Space Agency), an unprecedented collaboration to monitor the movements of crowds of fans, observe the effect of the presence of football stadiums in local life and improve the environmental impact of the sport.

Lasting until December 31, 2025, the agreement will allow the introduction of “spatial innovation in professional football competitions”, explained the two institutions, who met to publicize the initiative in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The announcement comes almost a year after the incidents in the Champions League final, with attempted invasions, incidents and crowds around the Stade de France, on the outskirts of Paris. The use of satellite data will help “watch crowds from space” and “identify bottlenecks in the vicinity of stadiums”, explained the ESA.

UEFA will have means of accessing historical data relating to specific places, and telecommunications satellites will be able to “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 pledged to explore “the potential of these technologies to improve social and environmental solutions” in European football. It is a topic that is seen as crucial, as both the economic and ecological impact of high-level sport raise more and more questions.