UEFA Champions Innovate: Madrid 2027

🧩 Context
Planning a Champions League final is fundamentally different from a regular matchday. Until the semi-finals are completed, who will attend, where they will come from, how they will travel and how they will move around the host city cannot be known. There is an opportunity to better connect and use information that is already available to build a clearer picture of expected demand and supply, mobility patterns and travel behaviours before the event.

📍 We're looking for solutions that:

• Help better understand and forecast travel demand across the whole event.
• Identify and anticipate different mobility patterns across travelling and local audiences.
• Combine multiple data sources to generate more useful mobility intelligence.
• Support scenario planning while accounting for uncertainty.
• Turn available data into actionable insights that support mobility planning.
• Capture and forecast demand patterns, plus transportation and accommodation capacity, while accounting for associated costs and latent demand.
• Optimise existing infrastructure and operational capacity.

🧩 Context 
The mobility experience of a Champions League final extends far beyond the stadium. Fans move between transport hubs, accommodation, meeting points and the stadium itself, often in an environment that is unfamiliar. Security arrangements, stadium overlay, road closures and the wider event footprint can further reshape movement through the host city.

At the same time, mobility initiatives such as digital wayfinding may already be in place or under development. The opportunity is therefore not necessarily to replace existing initiatives, but to identify where innovation can connect, complement or improve the fan journey.

📍 We're looking for solutions that:

• Improve navigation across the fan journey, particularly in unfamiliar or changing environments.
• Optimise fan movement and distribution at critical journey moments.
• Help fans choose and access appropriate mobility options, including public and private transport, parking and shared mobility.
• Improve the safety, accessibility and sustainability of the fan experience.
• Create a better experience for fans across the event.
• Are capable of anticipating, identifying and responding to peaks in demand and disruptive situations, enabling the delivery of adaptive mobility solutions.
• Utilise existing data, enabling targeted, personalised and context-aware communications to spectators, visitors and host-city residents.
• Enhance travel-related communications and real-time guidance, facilitating smoother movements and improving the travel experience.

🧩 Context
The mobility environment during a Champions League final is highly dynamic. Crowd levels, transport conditions, access routes and operational circumstances may change at short notice. At the same time, information and responsibilities are distributed across a complex ecosystem of stakeholders.

There is an opportunity to explore how real-time information could better support situational awareness, operational decision-making and timely communication to fans.

📍 We're looking for solutions that:

• Provide real-time visibility of crowd movements and mobility conditions.
• Transform real-time operational data into actionable insights.
• Enable faster and better-informed operational decisions and responses when conditions change.
• Improve coordination and information-sharing across event operations.
• Deliver timely and relevant updates to fans, helping them adapt to changing conditions and navigate the event more effectively.

Receive €25,000 in funding to contribute to the costs associated with executing the pilot project.

Benefit from exclusive access to experimental environments and relevant mobility datasets facilitated through UEFA’s and Atlético de Madrid’s affiliations with the host city, local authorities, mobility operators and other event stakeholders.

Receive mentorship from experienced professionals from UEFA, Atlético de Madrid’s innovation lab and other programme stakeholders.

Participate in two in-person workshops in Madrid (11 January and 23 March 2027) and one online workshop (5 May 2027) to engage with programme stakeholders and gain insights into their projects.

Present pilot project learnings at an exclusive networking showcase event on 3 June 2027 in Madrid to members of the European football and innovation communities.

Connect with football, host-city and mobility stakeholders, creating collaboration opportunities and avenues for growth.

Enjoy heightened visibility, with the potential to have an impact on future UEFA and major sporting events.

The programme is open to organisations and innovators capable of delivering impactful, scalable solutions to the challenges set out above, through a tangible product or service with an innovative approach. Innovation can live within the application, approach or the technology itself.

The programme is open to, but not limited to, start-ups, academia, non-profits or charities, research centres, mobility and transport operators, and cross-industry technology providers.

At the time of application, applicants must have developed a minimum viable product (MVP) and/or be able to demonstrate proven use cases of their solution in an operational environment.

The proposed solution has the potential to create lasting value beyond the 2027 UEFA Champions League final for fans, the host city or the wider football ecosystem, and includes clear means of measuring that impact.

The proposed solution can generate learnings as a possible replicable blueprint for future UEFA events, with the potential to scale effectively, reach broader audiences, expand impact over time and leave a legacy. Scalability is assessed in terms of technology, operations, market reach and resource allocation.

The team has the relevant skills, experience and expertise to deliver the proposed pilot project, working within the existing operational environments of UEFA, Atlético de Madrid and their mobility partners. The project draws on insights, expertise and resources from stakeholders involved to address the identified challenge.

The proposed solution brings an innovative approach to creating value for stakeholders involved in the delivery of the programme. The project team shows a deep understanding of the challenge and clearly demonstrates how their solution addresses it.

The proposed solution leverages data to enhance its impact. It either uses existing datasets or generates meaningful new data points that support insights, measurement and continuous improvement. Data should act as a key enabler to the proposed solution.