The 2026 US-Mexico-Canada World Cup is dubbed the "first AI World Cup." As FIFA's first-ever technology partner, Lenovo has extensively integrated AI technology into core systems including television broadcasting, officiating, match analysis, and event operations. Lenovo’s team developed an AI-based stabilization algorithm for referee camera angles, reducing video shake by 50%-70%; utilized 3D digital human technology to create digital avatars for all 1,263 players to assist in semi-automated offside decisions; and launched the FIFA AI Pro tactical analysis system, providing data support for over four million plays to all 48 teams. The event operations platform integrated more than 40 business units and 600 data streams to enable real-time cross-border coordination among the three host countries. Data shows that referee-angle camera footage generated over 20 billion impressions, with 87% of fans reporting that technological upgrades enhanced their viewing experience. Through this technological marketing case, Lenovo successfully reshaped its image as an AI company, with AI-related revenue now accounting for one-third of the group’s total revenue, leaving a rich technological legacy for future sporting events.Article author and source: Lanxiong Sports
Since Lenovo became FIFA's first-ever technology partner in October 2024, "The First AI World Cup" has been the theme of the marketing campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
This tournament dares to call itself the "First AI World Cup"—while AI has long been used in sports, this is the first time AI has been extensively applied across multiple core systems of a World Cup, including television broadcasting, officiating, match analysis, and event operations. Previous events had used AI only in isolated solutions, never at this scale or depth.
After nearly 20 months of preparation, the USMWC demonstrated to the world through a 39-day "football + AI" trial that the first AI World Cup was not merely a marketing ploy by FIFA and sponsors, but a tangible, objective outcome driven by genuine technological advancements—visible to TV audiences and broadcasters, perceptible to players, and actively experienced by referees.
Compared to macro metrics such as 6.8 million live spectators and $15 billion in projected revenue, these technological innovations that have propelled the world’s most popular sport into the AI era are the defining milestones of this World Cup and represent a lasting legacy for future tournaments.
An AI-powered innovation showcase delving into the essence of the World Cup has undoubtedly left viewers with the most immediate impression of upgraded television broadcasting technology.
One is the introduction of the "Referee View." While the referee view is not new, previous applications commonly suffered from shaky footage, significantly impacting the viewing experience. This World Cup, however, the referee view delivers footage that is not only more stable but also has lower latency.
This is precisely due to AI—specifically, its integrated Lenovo AI video stabilization algorithm, which optimizes high-speed dynamic footage captured by referees' wearable cameras in real time, ultimately reducing average camera shake by 50% and up to 70% at peak performance.
Li Bin, head of the AI video enhancement system for the FIFA project by Lenovo, revealed in an interview with media outlets such as Lanxiong Sports that since referees typically run over 10,000 meters per match and frequently perform sudden stops and turns, the camera mounted on their headphones has been limited to a weight of just 17 grams, making it impractical to incorporate hardware-based stabilization features like internal anti-shake mechanisms. Therefore, stabilization must be achieved through AI.
Li Bin’s team has seamlessly integrated the two most common stabilization algorithms—frequency domain and time domain—leveraging the former’s strength in handling shake and the latter’s advantage in preserving detail. They then decomposed each frame of the 30 FPS video and compared it frame-by-frame with the previous two seconds of footage to perform cropping, prediction, and repair. This approach achieves optimal stabilization while keeping the cropped area under 11%—compared to the industry norm of 30% to 50%—and reduces latency to just 2–3 seconds, versus the typical industry range of 6–15 seconds.
From the referee's perspective, Messi's goal against Austria.
This innovation not only introduced new viewing perspectives for the World Cup and enriched the narrative dimensions of sports broadcasting, but also enhanced the transparency of officiating and strengthened fan engagement. According to data provided by Lenovo, the "Referee's View" footage has generated over 20 billion impressions. Meanwhile, third-party global fan survey data commissioned by Lenovo shows that 87% of fans believe the technological upgrades significantly improved their World Cup viewing experience, and 84% reported that the close-up field cameras delivered an immersive, lifelike viewing experience.
Another directly related upgrade involves the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and semi-automated offside technology. The underlying innovations are a football embedded with a chip provided by Adidas and 3D digital avatars provided by the Chinese company Lenovo.
In television broadcasts, 3D digital humans appear more frequently than chip technology and contribute more significantly to enhancing the viewing experience. Compared to the uniform, generic virtual player avatars of the past, 3D digital humans are more realistic and precise. Used in replay displays for semi-automated offside detection technology, they provide referees with comprehensive decision-making references while helping viewers clearly understand the logic behind offside calls.
Zhang Xiaoyan, Director of Technology Strategy and Innovation at Lenovo’s SSG (Solutions and Services Group) and head of the 3D digital human project, introduced to media such as Lanxiong Sports that, prior to the event, Lenovo used scanners to capture 36 images with parameters and AI algorithms for each of the 1,263 players. Through 3D reconstruction technologies such as Gaussian modeling, these images were transformed into a data pipeline, ultimately creating a unique digital avatar for each player.
The third core system where AI is applied in this World Cup is the tactical analysis system. This is where one of the biggest innovations of this World Cup, FIFA AI Pro (also known as Football AI Pro), comes into play.
FIFA AI Pro can be understood as the football version of ChatGPT, built on Lenovo's AI Factory and enterprise-grade AI capabilities. It coordinates a suite of AI agents to efficiently retrieve vast amounts of data and deliver precise insights within seconds, helping coaches, players, and analysts with match analysis, tactical planning, and personalized decision-making.
For this competition, FIFA AI Pro provides all participating teams with access to official FIFA match data and professional analytical tools, supporting 16 languages, enabling retrieval of millions of match records and analysis of over 2,000 match metrics, allowing teams with limited budgets to access high-quality data resources and enhance their tactical and technical analysis capabilities.
During conversations with media outlets such as Lanxiong Sports, Gong Haoning, Delivery Manager of AI Solutions for Emerging Verticals at Lenovo SSG Group, revealed that after suffering a heavy defeat, an analyst from a certain team engaged in nearly 20 rounds of dialogue with FIFA AI Pro, covering topics ranging from their own team’s formation and the opponent’s passing performance, to the positioning and defensive performance of their own defenders, and ultimately identifying areas for improvement.
Gong Haoning added that a team analyst told him his typical day begins by observing the performances of both his team and the opponent on the field, followed by writing a post-match summary. In the evening, he opens FIFA AI Pro to conduct data queries, and after consolidating the information, he meets with the head coach the next morning for tactical discussions.
Data shows that all 48 participating teams activated the system during the event, with over 300 users performing thousands of queries.
In addition, the large-scale application of AI is also concentrated in multiple backend systems involved in event operations and management.
FIFA established more than 645 operational points for this tournament, including 16 stadiums, 48 team bases, the International Broadcast Center, the Tournament Operations Center, airports, hospitals, hotels, and more. Empowered by Lenovo’s AI hybrid infrastructure, FIFA consolidated over 40 tournament business areas—including security, logistics and travel, communications, team services, and venue operations—into a single shared system, aggregating a total of 600 data streams. These are displayed in real time, with no delay, on large screens at the Tournament Operations Center (TOC) in Miami. For example, on July 17 local time, during a visit to the TOC by Lanxiong Sports, one of the live feeds on the screen showed the press conference prior to the World Cup third-place match between England and France.
The large screen inside the TOC aggregates data from 40 FIFA business areas, including security, logistics and travel, communications, team services, and venue operations.
Although globally watched, with massive data volumes, high data density, and strong real-time requirements—according to FIFA staff on-site, approximately 13 trillion PB of data flowed through the entire network, with zero tolerance for failures, creating an extremely high-pressure environment—the World Cup organizing committee’s staff were able to proactively anticipate risks and swiftly respond to emergencies, enabling efficient, coordinated operations across the entire event, thanks to the intelligent command platform dubbed the “Cockpit” by FIFA.
Ultimately, the entire operational platform lived up to expectations and proved that Lenovo, as a technology partner, possesses the robust capability to deliver mission-critical AI operational platforms in high-real-time, high-reliability live environments.
From television broadcasts and referee decisions to match analysis and event operations, AI is deeply integrated into all core systems of the US-Mexico-Canada World Cup, positioning the traditionally conservative FIFA at the forefront of innovation and breathing new life into the century-old tournament.
A set of reusable sports event technical service experiences, delivered through AI, has successfully managed the most complex and operationally challenging football tournament to date; the technical team for this World Cup can naturally distill a replicable set of best practices.
First, technological innovation and its applications are endless; the key is to proceed step by step, continuously iterate, and keep exploring forward.
The AI applications at this World Cup were not "out of nowhere."
For example, the referee camera angle. As mentioned earlier, the referee camera angle was already implemented in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and received positive feedback. Building on that foundation, powered by Lenovo AI, the referee camera angle will now offer an even better viewing experience on the grander stage of the World Cup, reaching billions of viewers worldwide.
Looking further back, the development of video stabilization technology began with Lenovo’s collaboration with Formula 1. In Formula 1—the fastest sport on Earth—Lenovo’s technology was used to enhance footage captured by cameras mounted on the race cars. As the cars moved, lighting conditions changed, and as a Formula 1 technology partner, Lenovo had to manually adjust color, contrast, and brightness. Leveraging its own AI capabilities and experience in Formula 1 broadcasting, Lenovo developed a real-time video stabilization and enhancement system.
Another example is 3D digital humans. During the 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup, FIFA tested this technology. Prior to the match, players from Brazil’s Flamengo and Egypt’s Al Ahly were scanned. The test was successful and laid the foundation for full-scale implementation this time.
Moreover, the multi-agent collaboration capability behind FIFA AI Pro did not emerge instantly; its origins lie in Lenovo’s global manufacturing and supply chain management practices across more than 30 factories.
Second, maintain flexibility and redundancy.
In fact, beneath the calm surface of the World Cup’s operational management, hidden currents are stirring. On the TOC dashboard display screen, one figure stands out: FIFA reported that, as of the first week of July, its event systems were facing between 300 million and 500 million cyberattacks per day—by that point, the total had already exceeded the 11 billion attacks recorded throughout the entire 2022 Qatar World Cup.
At the TOC event, Lazy Bear Sports asked: "Did TOC experience any incidents or issues during the World Cup, and how were they resolved?" A FIFA staff member acknowledged that fiber optic lines within the United States experienced an outage during the tournament, but due to backup lines and a rapid response from Verizon’s team, the repair was completed swiftly, ensuring that television broadcast services remained unaffected.
This FIFA staff member emphasized that a key point is they have established redundant systems for personnel, equipment, and services—in particular, the broadcast distribution network spans the United States, Canada, and Mexico, using approximately 100,000 miles of fiber optic cable to ensure full redundancy.
Third, maintain an open mindset and prioritize solving problems.
The TOC brought together over 40 functional departments from FIFA, along with staff from Lenovo, telecommunications provider and sponsor Verizon, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Although these personnel came from diverse backgrounds and served different organizations, they coordinated their actions effectively and maintained an open mindset, especially when addressing challenges.
Myles Spittle, head of Lenovo’s Digital Workplace Solutions team (responsible for the infrastructure technology behind Lenovo’s World Cup project), gave examples to Lanxiong Sports, stating that although Lenovo staff deployed to the stadiums are employed by him and receive their salaries from him, they must report to FIFA’s venue technology manager on-site.
For example, TOC brings together staff from various parties to facilitate collaboration. In practice, when the event operations encounter issues, Lenovo provides support; when Lenovo faces challenges, FIFA and its other partners also step in to help. "I love the operating model here—it’s not like traditional companies where everyone blames each other when problems arise. Instead, we focus on understanding why the issue occurred. Yes, we do analyze the root cause afterward, but everyone’s top priority is solving the problem," said Myles Spittle.
Therefore, progressing step by step, maintaining redundancy, and keeping an open mindset are key behavioral guidelines to ensure the smooth delivery of such a complex project.
Of course, these three insights are merely observations and summaries from an external perspective by Lanxiong Sports. Every practitioner directly involved in the field undoubtedly has their own unique takeaways. For example, Myles Spittle, in his role as a technical lead responsible for project infrastructure, responded: “They have been tested on the highest stage, proving their ability to deploy 25,000 devices across multiple sports venues within an extremely tight timeline, spanning three countries, while meeting diverse security requirements—all ensuring the devices are ready to use immediately, with no additional installation needed. ‘If we can achieve this for FIFA, then we are certainly capable of deploying equipment in a standard office building.’”
A classic sports marketing case: the World Cup is the premier stage for sports sponsorship marketing. Born alongside a spectacular showcase of technological innovation is a classic example of sports sponsorship collaboration.
FIFA began consolidating and integrating data from various systems five to six years ago, establishing a highly complex backend architecture at the time. This formed the essential "fuel" foundation for AI applications and paved the way for Lenovo’s entry and contribution. FIFA has also designated "enhancing fan engagement through e-soccer by investing in digital technologies and AI for the next generation" as one of its eight strategic goals for the 2023–2027 cycle.
Prior to this, the 2026 USA-Canada-Mexico World Cup, as the first World Cup entirely under Gianni Infantino’s control as FIFA President—unlike the 2018 Russia and 2022 Qatar World Cups, whose host nations and formats were already decided under his predecessor Blatter—is set for a full expansion. Along with this expansion comes not only the greatest operational complexity in World Cup history but also uncertainty regarding the quality and entertainment value of the matches—if many games become one-sided and predictable blowouts, the image of a “watered-down World Cup” will be fully confirmed, posing a significant threat to the sustainable development of the World Cup and football as a whole. Therefore, whether motivated by the goal of promoting football globally or by the need to protect the World Cup brand, FIFA has a strong incentive to leverage technology to narrow the gap between strong and weak teams.
In fact, since the Qatar World Cup, FIFA has been providing each participating team with 50–60 page data reports after every match, along with video footage from 10 to 14 different camera angles to assist teams in their preparation. However, due to limitations in financial and human resources, smaller national teams have far weaker data analysis capabilities compared to top-tier teams, which has objectively widened the performance gap among World Cup participants. Nevertheless, the rapid advancements in Agentic AI in recent years have introduced new possibilities for FIFA to address this issue.
For technology providers, the full-scale operation of the World Cup and the surge in demand for processing team data present not only challenges but also opportunities—creating a vast arena for the application of advanced technologies. Once technology providers successfully overcome these challenges and deliver a smooth event, their brand will receive strong validation, significantly amplifying their overall marketing impact.
At this precise moment, as the global PC industry enters a period of deep adjustment and the AI wave sweeps across industries, Lenovo’s AI transformation has become inevitable. To establish its AI technology brand globally and successfully advance its strategic transformation, Lenovo needs a worldwide platform.
Just at this moment, FIFA’s digital transformation requirements, coupled with the need to reduce operational costs, improve efficiency and quality due to the expanded World Cup format, and narrow the "wealth gap" between strong and weak teams, aligned perfectly with Lenovo’s comprehensive strategic shift from PC hardware to AI. The two parties quickly reached an agreement, and Lenovo became the official technology partner for the 2025 revamped Club World Cup, the 2026 World Cup, and the 2027 Women’s World Cup—the first technology partner in FIFA’s history. As the military classics say: “Skilled warriors seek victory through momentum; capable generals seize opportunities to secure triumph.” In the fierce competition for exclusive and exclusive sports sponsorship resources, timing is no less critical.
Lenovo lived up to the mission by delivering a "zero-failure" solution through a comprehensive technology ecosystem covering smart terminals, data center infrastructure, edge computing, AI solutions, managed operations and maintenance services, and on-site technical support—addressing all scenarios including event broadcasting, IPTV signal distribution, event coordination and operations, fan services, referee technology innovation, team tactical analysis, and digital event office workflows.
For decades, Lenovo has been perceived as a hardware company producing laptops and other devices. But through the FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico—a premier global platform for technological innovation—Lenovo’s identity as an AI company offering a comprehensive suite of AI products, technologies, and solutions will begin to take root. In fact, AI has become Lenovo’s new core growth driver. In the just-completed fiscal year, AI-related revenue accounted for one-third of the company’s total revenue.
According to research by the renowned brand evaluation firm Brand Finance, the 2026 FIFA World Cup sponsorship activities generated $61 billion in commercial value and $7.2 billion in brand value, with Lenovo (+4.2%), Kia (+3.5%), and Hyundai (+3.4%) projected to have the largest increases in brand value. The firm noted, "Lenovo’s top ranking is particularly striking. The company only joined FIFA’s highest-tier sponsorship tier in 2024 and leveraged the World Cup platform to accelerate its global brand awareness beyond traditional markets. Its performance demonstrates that, for brands still building international recognition, the World Cup remains one of the few marketing assets capable of delivering massive brand impact."
According to Brand Finance, Lenovo is projected to have the largest increase in brand value (+4.2%).
According to analysis by global research firm YouGov, comparing data from 38 days before and after the match, Lenovo scored 11.9 in advertising impact among UK adult consumers, ranking second among sponsors. Despite a decline in "public sentiment," it achieved scores of 6.2 for ad awareness and 5.4 for consideration.
Basic sports marketing focuses on exposure and traffic. Intermediate sports marketing emphasizes sales conversion. Advanced sports marketing stresses deep integration between a company’s core values and the unique characteristics of the event, alignment between brand values and athletic spirit, and the mutual reinforcement of corporate strategic development with the iterative advancement of partnership targets, ultimately building long-term brand equity. Leveraging a comprehensive AI technology ecosystem, Lenovo collaborated with various partners to successfully deliver the first AI World Cup while accelerating the implementation of its own AI strategy and reshaping brand perception and image. Together with FIFA, they created a classic case of technology-driven and sports marketing. This case belongs in the third category.
In conclusion, with Spain defeating Argentina to claim the world title for the second time, the FIFA World Cup enters the Spain-Portugal-Morocco era, moving closer to its centennial anniversary.
Over the past century, alongside the advancement of football tactics and techniques, the World Cup has also witnessed the commercialization of IP, the scaling of markets, and innovations in technology and industry evolution. From the era of television to the digital age, from the industrial period to the AI era, the World Cup has not only observed all these changes but has also become an integral part of them.
Although the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico has concluded, it has fully opened the door to the AI era for football, and the legacy it has left in the intersection of sports and technological innovation has only just begun to make an impact.