Opta Forum Returns to London for 2026
Stats Perform's annual Opta Forum is returning to London this spring, bringing together hundreds of executives, innovation leads, content managers, product leaders, heads of performance and player recruitment leads from across the global sports industry.
Andy Cooper
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.
Previous Opta Forum Attendees Include
A truly unmissable event
Each year, the Opta Forum is filled with ideas and inspiration from the most creative and innovative minds across the sporting ecosystem – and 2026 will be no different.
Day one, taking place on Tuesday 24th March, will be focusing on novel strategies around strengthening fan engagement, with day two, Wednesday 25th March focusing on the latest innovations around on-field performance.
Network
Our exclusive event is filled with industry practitioners for valuable peer exchange.
Learn
Hear from leading voices in sport on how they use data to unlock greater value.
Demo
Get hands-on time with Opta products, with experts on hand at dedicated demo stations.
Interested in Attending?
If you have not received an invite but would have in interest in attending please complete the form on our official event page to join our waiting list.
To find out more about Opta Forum 2026 in the weeks leading up to the event, please follow Stats Perform across LinkedIn, Facebook and X.
