Beyond Sports: Transforming Sports Engagement

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Beyond Sports
Image Credit: Beyond Sports

Beyond Sports is a Dutch sports AI data analysis and visualisation organisation challenging and transforming the way sport is viewed and engaged with.

Founded in 2014 in the midst of the Brazil World Cup, Beyond Sports founders Sander Schouten and Nicolaas Westerhof felt there was a significant gap in the market for data driven visualisations that catered for both businesses and consumers.

Since then, Beyond Sports has bloomed in popularity and value, culminating in it being acquired by Sony in 2022.

Beyond Sports’ Solutions 

Driving Beyond Sports’ success is its wealth of solutions for a variety of markets and consumers, operating a number of unique progammes designed for B2B and B2C.

Many sport addicts may have unknowingly witnessed Beyond Sports’ work across its numerous contracts with high profile broadcasters and leagues like ESPN, Fox Sports, KPN, Sky Sports and more.

Virtual Reality 

Beyond Sports’ initial projects revolved around creating real life football matches within a virtual reality environment. A partnership with ChyronHego, Feyenoord and PSV assisted the organisation in creating the first ever live computer-generated VR football match, which was broadcast on Twitch to 37,000 viewers in 2017, demonstrating Beyond Sports’ ability to broker the cutting edge of technology.

The revolutionary project soon blossomed into a longstanding partnership with Fox Sports Eredivisie alongside KPN to create a fully interactive VR environment of each week’s best goals, allowing fans to pick and choose their favourite player’s perspectives of the action for free.

From such an innovative project, Beyond Sports then provided broadcasters like Fox Sports and Sky Sports with VR tools to more effectively analyse games.

Additionally, the organisation’s use of AI VR to capture on the ground perspectives of real matches has garnered the interest of many elite level clubs. By being able to review moments through a direct one-to-one perspective, coaches are able to more effectively scrutinise mistakes and convey instructions to players more clearly. Through this, Beyond Sports has gained partnerships with clubs such as Arsenal, AFC Ajax and AZ Alkmaar.

AI Animated Visualisations 

Capitalising on the organisation’s impressive momentum, Beyond Sports pivoted to alternative animated visualisations of live sporting events using the company’s world class AI across world class broadcasters and interactive gaming environments like Roblox.

Beyond Sports’ live visualisations most notably broke through into the consumer market via a partnership with Nickelodeon, CBS and Next Gen Stats. Through the collaboration, Beyond Sports used live positional data of the 2021 NFL Wildcard Game to create an alternative animated broadcast of the event in Beyond Sports’ signature “blockie style”. While the real game aired on CBS, the animated version was shown on Nickelodeon to major success, drawing millions of viewers and earning a 2021 Sports Emmy award. The collaboration was then repeated in 2022, with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme.

To further drive and alter the way sport is typically viewed, Beyond Sports entered into a new collaboration with ESPN and the NFL to create a Disney Toy Story themed live animated broadcast of the Jaguars-Falcons London game in 2023. Like the prior Nickelodeon broadcasts, the live version of the game occurred simultaneously with the animated “Toy Story Funday Football” version. Displaying the game within Andy’s Room, the animated broadcast boomed in popularity. Beyond Sports’ work resulted in the animated game becoming the most viewed event on both ESPN+ and Disney+ ever and earning both Beyond Sports and ESPN three Sports Emmy awards.

In addition to the work Beyond Sports has done with the NFL, the organisation also has a long running partnership with the NHL. In 2023 and 2024 Beyond Sports created the Big City Greens Classic, an animated version of a live NHL game featuring characters from the Big City Greens Disney Channel show. Furthermore, Beyond Sports has also aided in the launch of the NHL’s “Hockeyverse”, a weekly condensed 30-minute animated version of a game that uses player tracking to feature stylized avatars battling it out on the ice.

Late last year, Beyond Sports also worked with the NBA to create the Dunk the Halls, an animated version of a live game featuring Disney characters.

Conclusion

While many people will still prefer to watch sports in a traditional format, Beyond Sports has found incredible success in creating new alternative methods of watching live events through its proficiency with AI to create VR and animated experiences.

For more information on Beyond Sports, check their website.

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Football NSW calls on clubs to Make It Red for Heart Health Round

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Football NSW is calling on clubs and associations across the state to register for the 2026 Make It Red campaign, joining a national awareness movement aimed at reducing heart-related deaths on sporting grounds ahead of Heart Health Round on the weekend of June 5 to 7.

The campaign, developed by the Heartbeat of Football Foundation, asks sporting clubs to wear red, raise funds and build awareness around heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest, which is the leading single cause of disease burden and death in Australia for both men and women, and one that health authorities say is largely preventable through modifiable risk factors.

The call to action comes as the Foundation continues its work to map and register Automated External Defibrillators across NSW sporting facilities, a project that has already engaged twelve football associations and fed data into both the NSW Ambulance GoodSAM registry and NSW Health’s public AED map. The availability of a functioning, registered AED on site is among the most significant determinants of survival following sudden cardiac arrest, with survival rates declining sharply for every minute without defibrillation.

Football NSW is encouraging clubs to engage with the campaign across three areas. Clubs can register for the Make It Red campaign to help fund research, education and prevention programs. Participants, particularly those aged over 35, are encouraged to seek a free heart health screening test from their local GP or enquire about hosting a Heartbeat of Football testing day. Clubs are also urged to ensure their grounds have active, accessible AEDs in place, with guidance available through Football NSW’s Rescue Ready Guide.

The Make It Red campaign runs from June 5 to July 12, with Heart Health Round taking place across the opening weekend. Clubs can register and access participation resources at makeitred.org.

Community Spirit Shines on AFC Grassroots Football Day 2026

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Image credit: Football Australia

This week, Football Australia (FA) celebrated AFC Grassroots Football Day 2026, championing the people and communities who continue to hold up a safe, inclusive and supportive environment in the football landscape.

‘For all, for life’

In collaboration with Football NSW, Canterbury Football Association and community club, Balmain & District Football Club, the day reflected the very best of what football provides.

The event brought in participants of all ages – from 4-74 years-old – and reached a total of 400 people. Girls-only programs, all-abilities sessions and over-age football ensured all were catered for.

Such a diverse range of participants builds on a wider drive during FIFA World Football Week, which seeks to promote the sport not just as the dazzling lights of 100,000-seater stadiums, but as a way to foster community spirit and social development.

Furthermore, FA support through its Club Changer program was a welcome addition to the action, emphasising the organisation’s commitment to nurture a real love for the game across communities in Australia.

“Through Club Changer we support our clubs to provide a safe, fun and enjoyable environment where everyone is welcome; whether that be as a player, volunteer, referee or supporter,” explained National Program Manager Club Development at FA, Grace Lambourne.

“Everyone should feel they belong and are welcome to play, stay, and love the game.”

 

A welcome celebration

While the upcoming FIFA World Cup will no doubt inspire millions of future Socceroos and Matildas, events like the AFC Grassroots Football Day represent something beyond just inspiration.

It is a platform. An opportunity to express a love for football and to connect with others while doing so.

And connections between the professional and grassroots game is more important than ever if Australia is to nurture the next generation of talent.

This is particularly clear in the rise of women’s football across the nation. Since the FIFA Women’s World Cup, female participation rose by 32%, and registrations for the MiniTillies Program skyrocketed from 264 in 2023, to 1223 in 2024.

The professionals spark passion. But communities turn that passion into playing time.

That is why celebrating grassroots football – and the volunteers and families who sustain it – is a vital part of Australia’s football future. Together, FA and the AFC are creating strong foundations built on positivity, engagement, and inclusivity for all with a love for the beautiful game.

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