King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) announced its selection as the first FIFA Research Institute in the Middle East and Asia, dedicated to supporting the development of innovative football research.  

This recognition underscores KAUST’s commitment to strengthening the intersection of sport, academia, and industry through high-impact scientific inquiry. KAUST will contribute its research expertise to advance football-related studies, with an initial focus on developing datasets that enable deeper insights into the game.  

"We are excited to collaborate with FIFA, as KAUST becomes the fifth Research Institute in the world, and the first in the region. This is a testament to Saudi Arabia's rise as an exciting hub for football,” commented Professor Sir Edward Byrne, President of KAUST. “Our university’s commitment to innovation in sports will drive important insights that support the future evolution of the game.” 

The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match video into structured, searchable data. This work creates new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how the game has evolved over time. 

The second project leverages player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022™ Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ Australia & New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics. These datasets enable deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques, and the dynamics of performance through AI-driven analysis. 

Silvio Giancola, a research scientist at the KAUST Center of Excellence for Generative AI, will lead efforts at KAUST. Recognized for his pioneering work at the intersection of AI, computer vision, and sports, he has led projects like SoccerNet and published over 25 research papers on the subject.