16 Jun 2016

Loughborough is ready for the Euros

The event, held at the Loughborough University Football Stadium, was organised by the Sports Technology Institute in the build up to the UEFA European Championships in France.

A range of football related topics were presented by people within the industry as well as current Loughborough students.

The event kicked off with an overview of 15 years of sport technology research in football. This included discussions about grass pitches over artificial turf, studies into ball and boot developments and, a look into the future with virtual boot fitting and football kicking robots.

Also on the agenda was the topic of ball aerodynamics and the reasons why Loughborough is an aerodynamics testing ground for tournament balls.

As part of the event, audiences also got to experience the all-important goal line technology thanks to a representative from Hawk Eye. Audiences were given an insight into the Hawk Eye goal decision system and shown what the Hawk Eye engineers do on a typical match day.

Alongside the series of talks, attendees were able to explore an interactive exhibition showcasing football boot and ball developments over the last decade. This included a chance to take a look at the current official Euros match ball, provided by adidas.

The Chairman of the Loughborough University football team, Alex Polyakov, also provided an overview of the University football program and plans for the upcoming years.

The event concluded with an audience poll via the turning point voting system, and it was the host nation France who came out on top with 24%, followed by Germany with 18% and England with 17%.

For more information in upcoming sports events, please contact Ben Thompsett or Tino Meyer.