MLS Innovation Lab has confirmed its second group of tech leaders

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Image credit: Shutterstock.com/YES Market Media

Major League Soccer (MLS) confirmed six companies have been chosen for the second edition of the MLS Innovation Lab, an initiative that is shaping the future of sports and supporting the league’s ongoing growth.

The initiative seeks to identify and support innovative start-ups and advanced technologies. The new cohort will focus on enhancing the league’s priorities in fan engagement, on-field performance, and media technology.

The MLS Innovation Lab was established in the autumn of 2023 to advance the league’s leadership in sports technology. After nine months of evaluation, selected companies showcased their innovations at the 2024 MLS All-Star Game in Columbus.

This event featured live demonstrations of cutting-edge technologies such as advanced GPS player tracking, AI-driven real-time language dubbing, and augmented reality experiences for fans.

In its second iteration, companies will have the chance to present their ideas in real-world settings within the MLS ecosystem. This includes opportunities at events like December’s MLS NEXT Fest in California, the Generation adidas Cup, the MLS NEXT Cup, and the MLS NEXT All-Star Game presented by All-State.

MLS Senior Vice President of Emerging Ventures, Chris Schlosser, mentioned the excitement of joining forces with scalable businesses from around the world.

“MLS continues to be at the forefront of innovation in global sports, The Innovation lab program provides an unparalleled opportunity for high performing companies to turbo-charge their growth, and to showcase their capabilities to the soccer world,” he said via press release.

“We are very excited to partner with this group of excellent start-ups from around the world to co-create new ideas and push the boundaries in sports.”

The following companies have been selected for the second cohort of the MLS Innovation Lab:

Edge Sound Research

EDGE Sound Research is a US-based leader in multimodal audio technology for live entertainment venues and virtual environments. The company focuses on real-time audio object isolation to create personalised experiences for diverse audiences. This innovation allows users to immerse themselves in the worlds of their favourite athletes, musicians, or characters, making unforgettable moments accessible through advanced sound technology.

OLIVER Sports

Based in Spain, OLIVER Sports is at the forefront of player performance monitoring technology, utilising AI to make elite-level data accessible to all soccer players and clubs. Their GPS trackers gather both athletic and soccer-specific metrics, including ball interactions. By providing actionable insights, OLIVER Sports enables coaches and players to improve performance, minimise injuries, and optimise training.

Soccerment

Soccerment, based in Italy, is a sports technology firm offering AI-driven data analytics tools and scalable tracking solutions to improve performance analysis across all levels of soccer. By focusing on proprietary performance indicators and advanced metrics like Expected Goals, Soccerment provides clubs, academies, and players with valuable insights. Their ecosystem features two key products: XSEED, smart shin guards that gather data, and XVALUE, a soccer analytics platform that delivers advanced metrics for match analysis and scouting.

Sportlight

Sportlight Technology is a UK-based sports tech startup that is transforming athlete tracking, physical performance, and injury risk management through its patented LiDAR and AI technology. Their wearable-free system provides elite sports organisations with exceptional accuracy and insights, enhancing player development, injury risk assessment, and rehabilitation. Installed in major stadiums in both the U.S. and abroad, Sportlight is a trusted partner for elite sports teams and leagues.

Lubu

Lubu Technologies, based in Los Angeles, is developing AI-powered wearable technologies aimed at improving athletic performance and recovery. The company has created a footwear-focused solution that analyses how the force of every step, sprint, and cut impacts performance and health. By tracking force impacts, cleat performance, and foot pressure during critical moments, Lubu offers athletes and coaches valuable insights to help optimise performance and enhance gameplay.

Wicket

Wicket, based in Cambridge, Mass, offers a facial authentication platform that enhances event experiences at over 40 stadiums across the U.S. and internationally. Utilising patented computer vision technology, Wicket partners with industry leaders to provide an exceptional guest experience through facial recognition for ticketing, payments, access control, and credentialing. As a privacy-first company, Wicket’s products are designed for opt-in use only.

For additional information on MLS Innovation Lab, click here.

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The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

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If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

AI-powered camera system makes Supercup debut in live football production

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Image Credit: 2670469575

AI-powered camera technology has moved another step closer to mainstream sports broadcasting. This comes after it was deployed for the international tactical feed of the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

The system, supplied by Broadcast Solutions, combined Studio Automated’s AI camera automation platform with an Egripment HotHead 3 remote head during the fixture at Signal Iduna Park on 22 August. The Bundesliga and host broadcaster Sportcast have regularly used the season-opening match as a testing ground for new technologies.

Rather than simply tracking the ball or individual players, Studio Automated’s technology analyses the wider match scene and uses broadcast production principles to determine framing and camera movements.

The system was used to operate a camera positioned on the stadium’s main camera gantry. As a result, the footage was available as part of the international tactical production.

The deployment is significant because it demonstrates how AI camera operation can move from trade-show demonstrations into live professional broadcast environments. The companies first showcased the integrated technology at SportsInnovation earlier this year.

The system operates on standard on-premises hardware and does not require cloud connectivity or a calibration process. Its low-latency operation also allows the remote head to respond in a way designed to replicate the movement of a conventional manually operated camera.

Importantly, the technology does not replace the wider production team. The automated camera operates as another source within a multi-camera environment. In this setup, the production team retains control over which images make it to air. This positions AI as a tool for expanding production capabilities rather than removing the role of existing broadcast teams.

For broadcasters and production companies, the potential extends beyond major Bundesliga fixtures. Automated camera positions could help reduce the operational requirements associated with remote and lower-cost productions. At the same time, they can maintain a higher standard of coverage.

Broadcast Solutions will continue showcasing the technology with Studio Automated and Egripment at IBC 2026 in Amsterdam. At this event, the companies will demonstrate integrated workflows for sports production.

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