Soccer Championship In East Asia Features VR As Future Of Sports Viewing


The EAFF E-1 Football Championship, a men’s soccer competition among nations in the East Asian Football Federation, was held last month and offered fans virtual reality viewing whether at the stadium in Chofu, Japan or just using their smartphones.

The EAFF partnered with rights holder Fuji TV and virtual reality company LiveLike to create a VR app that offered live action and highlights during the matches featuring China, Japan, North Korea and South Korea.

Also, Japanese telecommunications operator KDDI and mobile phone brand au for the Dec. 16 match between Japan and South Korea offered VR stadium seats for 100 spectators and subscribers in attendance who had access to headsets and content. The experience included 4DReplay allowing fans to select replays in real-time. The replays could be customizable and include those not available on the television broadcast, as they were provided by about 100 cameras in the stadium.

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For the virtual reality app, the live action and highlights included stats, lineups could be viewed on headsets and smartphones through an app for iOS or Android.

LiveLike in helping create virtual reality experiences for previous EAFF competitions brought along its VR Suite.