Germany: DFL "first football league with investments in innovative and promising companies"

"The DFL wants to be the first football league to create a portfolio of investments in innovative and promising companies in the media, technology and sports industries," said the German Professional Football League, announcing it has taken "approximately 10% in the Israeli start-up Track160", on 11/10/2018.

"The start-up (Track 160) is developing a system based on artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning that will capture in 3D form the motions of the players and the trajectory of the ball. Unlike the systems currently in use around the world, the Track160 system uses only the match video and does not need GPS or other wearable sensors, expensive hardware or human operators, making it an interesting proposition not only for elite teams, but also for amateur clubs of all divisions," said the German league.

"Track160’s system will find application in future-oriented fields such as match analytics, coaching, sports medicine, media offerings, and gaming," said Christian Seifert, the CEO of the DFL.

"The DFL's ability to systematically cover the media value chain is what sets…