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African stars in the spotlight: Atletico Madrid vs Sevilla FC
Innovation helps LaLiga
The opening LaLiga game between Sevilla and Real Betis on Thursday following the resumption of football in Spain really took me back to my recent visit to the home of LaLiga, where I learned so much about technology in the game in Bilbao, Spain.
FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (L) in action against RCD Espanyol’s Javi Lopez (R) during a Spanish LaLiga soccer match between RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona at the Cornella-El Prat stadium in Cornella, Catalonia, north eastern Spain, 08 December 2018. EPA-EFE/TONI ALBIR
It’s close to five months now since my week-long trip to Spain’s Basque country, where I got an opportunity to visit four top tier sides Athletic Bilbao, Eibar, Levante and Real Sociedad – learning more about the history of each respective club.
Another important aspect of my trip, however, was to get to know what makes LaLiga one of the greatest Leagues in the World.
Despite attracting top players to the League and of course having had that Ronaldo and Messi rivalry for many years – LaLiga is on a quest to make the game much more interesting when watching on TV.
The association prides itself in improving the viewing of the game from the screen adopting some aspects used in video games particularly Fifa’s EA Sports using them on live games.
For instance, like in Thursday’s game, one was able to hear crowd noise from their screens even though the game was played behind closed doors due to the on-going coronavirus pandemic which has struck the entire world.
Another feature I saw from my TV was visuals of fans seated on the stands, another great innovative which made the game much more interesting.
This is exactly what LaLiga communications officer Joris Evers told me and 12 other journalists from around the world on our first day in Spain. The League is moving with times and strives to invest more in technology to attract more viewers.
It’s funny that many years ago, video games like EA Sports were working hard to make these games seem real when playing them, and now that they have managed to do so, league’s like LaLiga are now trying hard to make live games look like video games.
I read elsewhere that the English Premier League will also adapt some of these features when they get back into action.
It will be cool to see some of these aspects being introduced in the South African domestic league since the games are also expected to be played behind closed doors should the league resume.
But, I know this is just wishful thinking for now, probably in the future after all, the PSL is considered the biggest League in Africa…
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