Football’s national body has partnered with sports video production company Sportway to broadcast more domestic football from the National League and cup competitions than ever before.
The partnership will see New Zealand Football broadcast more than 200 games in 2024, live and free for fans on FIFA+.
Future seasons will see even more games broadcast with the ultimate aim to deliver every match in the Northern, Central and Southern Leagues, as well as all of the men’s and women’s National League Championship.
Utilising a fixed AI-automated filming solution, 4K Sportway cameras have been installed at grounds around Aotearoa New Zealand allowing National League games to be broadcast live with match commentary added by club commentators.
The fixed cameras also give clubs and federations the option to use them to broadcast their own games from other competitions.
Andrew Pragnell, CEO at New Zealand Football, said: “We want to make football as accessible as possible, and our broadcast and content strategy is an important part of that.
“To go from only broadcasting one domestic game per week a few years ago, behind a paywall, to delivering over 200 this year is an impressive change and will transform competitions like the National League, which is now much easier for fans to discover and follow.
“Working with AI cameras is a new approach for us but broadcasting domestic games on this scale would not be possible with a traditional model, so we have been keen to adopt this technology and are excited for how it develops as the technology evolves.
“It is also great to provide opportunities for people who want to get involved in broadcasting with the chance for a new generation of commentators to experience working in live sport.”
So far, 30 games have been broadcast this season as a pilot for the technology.
Check out upcoming games to be streamed here:
Photo credit: Glenn Carstens-Peters / unsplash.
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