Real Madrid is facing off against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League final Saturday in Wales, and it’s a football club that possesses a tech-centric mindset. Over the past few years, the top LaLiga football club has been an early adopter of emerging technologies and innovative ideas changing the global sports landscape.
Last year, Real’s team mobile app also received an overhaul, courtesy of Israel-based firm Interacting Technology while the club was part of a unique experience with technology corporation Intel. During the most recent El Clasico matchup, Intel rolled out its 360-degree replay technology to provide 3D replays to fans and broadcasters. With the technology installed at Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabeau — homes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively — LaLiga became the first European football league to have Intel’s technology installed at its stadiums.
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In November 2015 part of the annual El Clasico matchup with Barcelona, Real Madrid partnered with Snapchat and became the first professional sports team to have a Live Story on the platform where fans could submit content to the dedicated social channel. The global football organization launched its own Snapchat account around the same time, earning roughly 200,000 views on average per Story in the first 12 hours.
The forward thinking doesn’t start and stop with just the football club as Real Madrid has one of the most followed athletes and celebrities across social media in attacker Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently surpassed 100 million followers on Instagram as well.