Metrica Sports at More than a Hack 2026

Modern football generates an unprecedented volume of data. Video, tracking, events, and performance metrics are now part of the daily workflow of professional teams. Yet the real challenge is no longer collecting data — it is turning that data into tactical understanding and better decisions.

This is the core idea behind More than a Hack 2026, a collaborative challenge that brings together generative AI, real football data, and tactical expertise to explore new ways of understanding the game.

Organised within the framework of the Mobile World Congress (Talent Arena) and driven by Barcelona Innovation Hub, together with Metrica Sports and Talent Arena, the hackathon offers a unique opportunity to work with professional FC Barcelona datasets and address real analytical challenges faced by elite football environments.

A real challenge, with real football data

More than a Hack 2026 is not a theoretical exercise. Participants will work with datasets that are rarely accessible outside professional clubs, including:

• Official FC Barcelona match videos

• Automatic tracking data (ATD)

• Smart-tagged tactical events

The goal is clear: to formulate relevant analytical and tactical questions, analyze complex data, and transform it into actionable tactical knowledge that can support decision-making in elite football.

Rather than focusing on raw metrics, the challenge encourages participants to explore collective behaviour, tactical patterns, contextual insights, and storytelling, combining analytical rigor with a deep understanding of the game.

Metrica Sports’ role in the hackathon

As the technological and analytical partner of More than a Hack 2026, Metrica Sports plays a central role in connecting data analysis with real football workflows.

For more than a decade, Metrica Sports has worked closely with clubs, federations, analysts, and performance staff around the world, helping them integrate video, data, and tactical context into a single analytical process. This experience directly shapes the philosophy of the hackathon.

From our perspective, great analysis is not just about finding patterns — it is about making those patterns understandable, communicable, and usable by coaches and analysts.

Working with Metrica Nexus during the challenge

As part of the hackathon, participants will have access to Metrica Nexus, Metrica Sports’ advanced performance and tactical analysis platform.

Metrica Nexus is used in professional environments to:

• integrate video, tracking, and event data,

• structure tactical analysis,

• explore collective behaviours and sequences of play,

• and transform complex information into clear, shareable insights.

By using Metrica Nexus during the challenge, participants will be able to implement part of their analytical work in a real professional tool, aligned with current industry standards. This bridges the gap between experimentation and applied football analysis, offering a workflow that mirrors how elite teams operate today.

Generative AI as an analytical amplifier

More than a Hack 2026 also explores the role of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) in football analytics.

Rather than replacing analysts, AI is approached as a tool to:

• support hypothesis generation,

• assist in interpreting complex outputs,

• improve explanation and communication of insights,

• and enable new ways of interacting with football data.

At Metrica Sports, we strongly believe in a responsible and rigorous use of AI, grounded in transparency, reproducibility, and tactical context. The hackathon provides a controlled environment to experiment with these ideas while keeping football understanding at the center of the analysis.

A multidisciplinary approach to football intelligence

One of the most valuable aspects of More than a Hack 2026 is its multidisciplinary nature.

Data scientists, AI specialists, and tactical analysts work side by side, reflecting how modern football departments operate. By combining different perspectives, participants can move beyond isolated metrics and build a more holistic understanding of performance and tactics.

This collaborative approach is essential to developing the next generation of sports intelligence.

Why participate?

Participating in More than a Hack 2026 means:

• working with real FC Barcelona data,

• tackling authentic analytical and tactical challenges,

• gaining hands-on experience with professional tools like Metrica Nexus,

• collaborating with high-level multidisciplinary profiles,

• and gaining visibility within an ecosystem connected to elite football and the Mobile World Congress.

Join the challenge

More than a Hack 2026 is an invitation to rethink how football data, artificial intelligence, and tactical knowledge can work together to improve decision-making in professional football.

If you are passionate about data, AI, and the game, this challenge is your opportunity to turn analysis into real tactical intelligence.

👉 Registrations are open now
🔗 Register for More than a Hack 2026