From Pre-Match to Post-Game, Opta’s Vital Role in Powering the Champions League’s Historic Night
Wednesday 29 January was a landmark night in UEFA Champions League history-one that saw all 18 matches in the final round of the league phase kick off simultaneously for the first time ever. Whilst some teams had the luxury of knowing they had already qualified for the knockout stages, the fate of others was dependent on the outcome of results elsewhere. This meant that every key moment on the pitch across Europe carried immense stakes.
The 18 concurrent games presented broadcasters, clubs and media with the opportunity to stretch their storytelling like never before-even impacting the on-field tactics of the teams facing the imminent threat of elimination. A goal (or card, or penalty) in one game could have massive implications for teams in another.
Football's media landscape couldn't afford to not capitalise on the immense global fan attention, despite it being spread more thinly than ever. So, an enormous team from Stats Perform and Opta were on-hand pre-match, live and post-match to ensure seamless, end-to-end coverage. AI and analytical tools were also deployed to their fullest, delivering captivating in-depth statistical commentary and analysis to all corners of the sports industry, and the world.
From live stats, facts and visuals to probabilities, predictions and permutations, our world-class data collectors, researchers, designers, journalists and analysts-and our powerful storytelling technology-helped everyone from broadcasters, content creators, sportsbooks, sponsors and club analysts capture the magic in the detail of every game and help turn it into one of the most dramatic nights in recent European club football memory.
Take a more detailed look at a few of the ways we helped broadcasters, clubs and media power their storytelling amongst the fast, furious action of Matchday 8.
The Evening at a Glance
180M+ XY data points collected
40 multilingual Data Insights editors members working synchronously across 10 countries
In-Studio Storytelling Support: Opta Analysts on-site at multiple European broadcasters
External Storytelling Support: Opta data feeds and AI-powered tools like Opta Graphics and Opta Live provided to multiple European and global broadcasters, publishers, live score apps, radio, podcasters, sportsbooks, search engines, YouTubers and TikTokers, and football players, clubs and analysts
Professional Analyst Support: Data feeds, ProVision, Opta Vision, Opta Pro Hub and Dynamix provided to coaches and analysts at multiple competing clubs
Pre-Game Coverage
BBC Sport
In the lead-up to the matches, BBC Sport's head statistician, Chris Collinson, had the difficult task of explaining the competition's new format and what each team needed to do to qualify for the knockout stages.
That's where the Opta Predictor model comes in.
With so many possible outcomes, the numbers from the AI-driven model allowed Chris to lay out the results each team needed and quantify how big a task they faced, all in a way the public could easily digest.
Manchester City
Using a dynamic Opta Graphics template, the Premier League side announced their starting XI against Club Brugge, reaching half a million people on X and bringing in over 225,000 likes and 6,000 comments across Instagram and Facebook.
In-Game Coverage
Opta Analyst
Stats Perform's B2C facing content hub, the Opta Analyst, took their live UEFA Champions League simulations and added extra categories, including potential knockout opponents, and ran it as a live blog that updated after every goal to provide each team's revised chances of qualifying and who they might face.
With 50,000 views and an average user dwell time of over 5 minutes, the live predictions proved to be an effective and engaging storytelling method, whilst also increasing impressions of on-page ads.
Flashscore
According to OptaJoe, Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers became the first player in UEFA Champions League history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a game in competition play, AND the second youngest Englishman after Wayne Rooney to score a Champions League hat-trick.
To tap into the buzz around Rogers's feats, the popular live score website and app used Opta Graphics and Opta data to produce a tailored goal sequence graphic for use across their various platforms.
Manchester City
After revealing their initial team line-up, Man City utilised Opta Graphics in-game to provide score updates, substitution changes and highlight player performances with heat maps and goal sequences, all of which are automated in seconds to maximise their social media team's time and ability to capitalise on major game events, whilst providing valuable sponsor inventory.
Canal+
Using the live standings feed available in Opta Live, Canal+ took note of each team’s ranking every ten minutes then transformed it into a short-form video for social media. After the games ended, fans were able to get a wider view of how the night played out for their favourite (or least favourite) teams.
Watch the video on X
BBC Sport
At the end of the night, the BBC also used Opta data in their highlights package to spark on-air discussion between pundits about Ousmane Dembélé's form over the last eight matches, and his impact on PSG. The conversation continued on social media, where their Match of the Day programme shared a clip across their channels.
Watch the video on XL'Equipe
Meanwhile, that night, France's premier sports daily L'Equipe published an article showcasing Dembélé's transformation into a clinical finisher, relying heavily on our data and insights provided by our team of experts.
Multiple other broadcasters and clubs across Europe and worldwide leaned heavily on Opta Live's Multi-Match Stream feature, and Opta Search to monitor the night's action, establishing which teams were in line to make it through to the next stage and who would likely be their next opponents.
Teams like PSG and Liverpool also counted on Opta Graphics to captivate fans on social media and create extensive sponsorable inventory, while immersive, automated experiences like Opta Stream and Opta Stories produced nearly 200 automated live match commentaries and branded graphics for digital publishers like Soccerway.
Stats Perform and Opta are proud to have played an integral role in ensuring the many stories from the UEFA Champions League's monumental night got told at the right time.
With other major football tournaments like the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup and 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup on the horizon, get in touch to see how we can help you grow and engage global football audiences, open up revenue streams and achieve on-field success. And don't forget, we can also help you find the magic in the detail for other sports including NFL, basketball, cricket, rugby, baseball and many more.
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