“Innovation Lab 2018”: Another award for “DFL invested company” Track160

14 November 2018 – The start-up company Track160, in which the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga holds an equity interest as part of its “DFL for Equity” investment strategy, has won another international award. At the “Leaders Sport Performance Summit” in London, Track160 won the “Innovation Lab 2018 Award”, which is given to start-up companies that make a particularly positive impact on sport through cutting-edge technology.

With the support of the DFL, Track160 is developing a system based on artificial intelligence and deep learning that will capture the motions of the players and the trajectory of the ball in 3D. The system can be used in future-oriented areas such as match analysis, coaching, sports medicine, media and gaming. Unlike the systems currently in use around the world, the Track160 system only requires a video of the match and does not need GPS or other sensors, expensive camera systems or operators, making it an interesting proposition not only for professional teams but also amateur clubs at every tier of the game. Track160 had already won the “European SportsTech Award” at the Spielmacher Conference in Hamburg in August 2018.

October 2018 saw the launch of the “DFL for Equity” investment strategy, under which the DFL is acquiring shareholdings in start-ups and SMEs. Among other things, the investment in Track160 gives the start-up access to the DFL’s match database and digital football archive, enabling it to develop its analytics system more quickly and to grow rapidly both at home and abroad with the aid of the DFL network.