Strategy and content: a look at football’s digital future with Kineton
Football is no longer just a sport, but a complex ecosystem fueled by data, technology, and a constant quest for engagement. The real frontier of economic growth and the fan experience today lies at the intersection of Media, IT, and Telco.
In view of the Social Football Summit 2025, we had the honor of delving into these dynamics with Alessandro Cavicchia, Deputy & Head of Business Development in the Media-IT-Telco Area at Kineton, a leading company that is charting the course for digital innovation in the sector.
The interview with Cavicchia not only offers an overview of Kineton’s cutting-edge solutions – from X-Reality (AR/VR/MR) to App Development – but also explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can transform clubs into true data-driven companies, optimizing business management, commercial strategy, and personalized fan interaction.
Furthermore, the dialogue touches upon a fundamental ethical pillar: Kineton’s commitment as a Benefit Corporation (Società Benefit). This means that innovation is not an end in itself but is oriented towards creating shared value, promoting projects that aim for environmental sustainability and inclusivity in the world of sport. Here is what we discussed.
Kineton is a leader in solutions for the Media and IT sector. How do your competencies in X-Reality (AR/VR/MR), Data Driven, and App Development translate into an innovative viewing and engagement experience for football fans and sports broadcasters?
“Kineton was born in the Media, IT & Telco world, and this gives us a unique advantage when bringing innovation to sport. Our expertise in X-Reality (AR/VR/MR), Data Driven technologies, and cross-platform development allows us to create new forms of consuming sports content. For fans, this means a shift from passive viewing to an immersive experience:
AR overlays in real-time during matches,
3D reconstructions of key plays,
virtual cameras and contextual statistics,
VR experiences to live the stadium from home.
For broadcasters, we offer scalable platforms for enriching the video signal, graphic automation, flow analysis, and tools to produce interactive content with controlled costs. Kineton can also enable football clubs to have their own ‘Digital TV’ (without the constraint of a linear television channel) where they can insert content, and build a dedicated ‘customer fan’ base for a more direct relationship with their supporters. The result is a completely new way to tell and experience football, more engaging, more personalized, and closer to the expectations of the new generations.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a pillar of your offering. Beyond analyzing on-field performance, how can Kineton’s AI and Data Driven approach help clubs optimize business management, commercial strategy, or personalized interaction with the fan base?
“Our AI strategy goes beyond sports performance analysis. The goal is to support clubs as true data-driven companies, optimizing three dimensions:
Business Management:
predictive models for budget planning, ticketing, and season ticket sales,
optimization of operating costs (energy, security, facility maintenance),
automation of administrative processes.
Commercial Strategy:
dynamic pricing based on supply/demand data,
advanced segmentation of fan bases for more targeted sponsorships,
analysis of non-sporting revenue streams (retail, hospitality, licensing).
Personalized Fan Interaction:
recommendation engines for content, merchandising, and advanced services,
creation of personalized journeys both inside the stadium and on apps,
chatbots and AI assistants to boost engagement and conversions.
The ultimate goal is to make the club more efficient, more profitable, and closer to the needs of its fans.”
You are a Benefit Corporation (Società Benefit), integrating sustainability and social impact goals into your business model. How is this choice concretely reflected in the projects you develop for your clients in the sports world, promoting ethical and long-term innovation?
“Being a Benefit Corporation is not just a statement of principle; it concretely influences how we develop projects. We apply three guidelines:
Technology that Reduces Environmental Impact:
optimized low-impact cloud platforms,
solutions that reduce the need for travel and physical devices.
Inclusivity and Accessibility:
accessible interfaces for fans with disabilities,
content available in multiple languages and formats,
digital pathways also designed for schools, communities, and youth sectors.
Shared Value:
projects that create benefits for communities, not just for the client,
educational programs on technology and AI,
ethical and transparent governance models.
For us, innovation is not just about what we develop, but how we do it”.
Being present at SFS 25, what key innovation message do you want to convey to industry operators and sports executives? What specific technological challenges for the football world do you aim to solve or present during the event?
“At SFS 25, we want to deliver a clear message: innovation in football must not be fragmented, but systemic. Technology, data, fan experience, sustainability, and governance must speak the same language. The challenges we intend to address are three:
Data Integration: Today, clubs have information scattered across performance, audience, ticketing, and merchandising. Kineton aims to unify these ecosystems to create true predictive models.
Fan Experience 3.0: From the second screen to multi-user AR/VR experiences, we want to show how data and AI can increase involvement and revenues.
Operational Efficiency: We bring solutions to optimize costs, processes, and internal organization, because economic sustainability is a priority for the entire sector.
Our goal is to accompany clubs and broadcasters toward a football that is smarter, closer to the fans, and more sustainable”.
Your Centers of Competence (CoC) are engines for research and experimentation. What are the next technological frontiers that Kineton is exploring —perhaps related to the Metaverse or Web3— that could revolutionize how football creates value in the coming years?
“In our Centers of Competence, we are working on several technologies that we believe will radically change how value is generated in football in the coming years:
Hybrid Metaverse: Phygital experiences that merge the stadium and the digital realm, with avatars, viewing rooms, and immersive premium content.
Digital Twins of Stadiums: Intelligent 3D models to optimize security, maintenance, access, and public services.
Web3 Digital Assets: Tokenized memberships, evolved loyalty programs, and collectibles with real value and concrete utility (not just NFTs).
Generative AI for Media and Communication: Automatic creation of highlights, narrative formats, and personalized multilingual content for specific fan segments.
Scouting and Performance Augmentation with advanced predictive models.
Our goal is to anticipate trends, not chase them: the football of the future will be a digital ecosystem where engagement, data, and content converge on a single platform”.
