Alibaba and UEFA strike AI deal to reshape football broadcasting

Alibaba and UEFA strike AI deal to reshape football broadcasting
People visit an Alibaba booth during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, 26 July, 2025. Reuters
Reuters
By Mahnoor Makhdoom
June 6, 2026 10:00
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The next time a goal goes in during a Champions League final, fans around the world could watch it from every angle at once — frozen, rotated and replayed in ways that were impossible only a few years ago.

That is part of what Alibaba Group is promising after signing an exclusive six-year partnership with UEFA, European football's governing body.

The agreement makes Alibaba UEFA's official partner for artificial intelligence, cloud services and e-commerce, covering the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League from the 2027–28 season to the 2032–33 season, as well as Euro 2028. The deal was signed in Budapest just hours before Paris Saint-Germain's penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in the 2026 Champions League final.

Bringing matches to life with AI-powered replays

The centrepiece of the technology offering is Alibaba's 360-degree replay system, which uses multiple cameras and AI processing to reconstruct sporting moments from any viewpoint.

The technology allows broadcasters to show a tackle, goal or controversial decision from angles that no single camera could capture. Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai pointed to its use at the Paris 2024 Olympics and the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year as evidence of its potential.

He noted that cloud broadcasting surpassed satellite transmission for the first time at the Paris Games, becoming the primary broadcasting method. Football, with its global audience of billions, is now set to become the technology's biggest stage yet.

Qwen and the future of fan engagement

Central to the partnership is Alibaba's Qwen large language model, which will support fan interaction, media content management and event communications.

In practical terms, fans could eventually ask questions about a match, player or club history and receive real-time AI-generated responses. It is the type of interactive experience that streaming platforms and sports broadcasters have been working towards for years.

Tsai said the aspect that excites him most is the possibility of using AI to transform how supporters access information about football, clubs and players in more interactive ways.

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin was equally enthusiastic, saying Alibaba's expertise in artificial intelligence and cloud computing would support UEFA's commitment to thoughtful innovation and enhance the experience of supporters around the world.

Alibaba's growing global sports footprint

The deal is also notable for what it reveals about Alibaba's ambitions beyond China.

With the partnership, UEFA joins the International Olympic Committee and NBA China among the major sports organisations working with Alibaba's AI capabilities. Together, these relationships position the company as one of the world's leading providers of sports technology infrastructure.

For a Chinese company operating in a complex global environment, such partnerships serve a dual purpose: generating revenue while building brand recognition in markets where Alibaba remains less familiar despite its dominant position at home.

What fans can expect

For football supporters, the more immediate question is what the technology will actually feel like.

The 360-degree replay system has already made Olympic highlights packages feel noticeably different - more fluid, more immersive and better able to capture decisive moments from the angle that best tells the story.

Whether it translates equally well to the faster, more chaotic rhythms of club football remains to be seen. The 2027–28 season will begin to provide the answer.

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