Taking place across two days at the British Museum, Opta Forum 2026 will feature insights and conversations with industry leaders around new and innovative strategies around applying data, AI, video and sports content.
With this year’s men’s FIFA World Cup fast approaching, Opta Forum will highlight how major organisations and stakeholders in sport can:
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Accelerate monetisation through new, AI-assisted content experiences
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Win attention and share of voice at the FIFA World Cup and other tentpole events with data-driven storytelling
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Understand how you can future-proof your digital strategy and tech stack for fan growth
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Bring every fan closer to the game through AI performance storytelling
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Deliver advanced performance analysis and recruitment techniques
Navigating a fast-changing landscape across the entire sporting ecosystem
An exclusive, invitation-only event, Opta Forum has united the industry’s brightest minds since its first edition in 2014.
Across the event’s two-day programme, experts working in different sectors will be exploring how innovations in data and AI can improve our understanding of what is happening on the pitch, to generate more compelling stories and help teams achieve crucial marginal gains to inform player performance.
As Opta celebrates 30 years of pioneering innovation, the 2026 Opta Forum will explore how sports data and AI are reshaping how engaging stories are being sourced and shared, changing audience behaviours and expectations, helping content creators and rights holders add value to key assets and enable professional analysts to better quantify in-game decision making of players.
In addition to a wide range of expert talks, demonstrations and panels, this year’s Opta Forum will also see the return of the event’s data analytics competition, providing the next generation of data practitioners with an opportunity of proposing novel approaches to analysing performance, using Opta’s most advanced AI-enriched football data.
For the first time, the competition will feature categories relating to media storytelling alongside team and player performance categories. Full details on how participants can enter will be announced later this week.
