How Israeli tech is powering the World Cup

Israel’s national soccer team will once again watch the FIFA World Cup from the sidelines. But while no Israeli players will take the field, Israeli technology is embedded throughout the event – powering its broadcasts, data, ticketing and security.

A cluster of Israeli companies is behind the scenes of what is projected to be one of the largest sporting events in history, with an estimated six billion viewers and a forecast contribution, according to i24NEWS, of $41 billion to the global economy.

Perhaps the most visible Israeli contribution is one most fans will never consciously notice: the highlight clips that appear online within seconds of a goal. WSC Sports, a world leader in AI-driven sports content automation, has partnered directly with FIFA’s production arm to create official content, integrate personalised highlights and “stories” formats for broadcasters, and engage younger audiences through collaborations with social media creators.

The scale of the operation is considerable. According to i24NEWS, WSC Sports produced 16 million video highlights in 2025 alone – roughly 49,000 pieces of content a day – processed more than 450,000 live broadcasts, and automatically detected over 124 million sporting events. For the 2026 tournament, with its 104 matches, the system is expected to operate across dozens of channels and languages simultaneously, automating highlight creation, formatting, localisation, branding, graphics and even AI-generated commentary.

“The World Cup has long transcended the 90-minute television broadcast; it is now a multi-channel experience unfolding simultaneously in the pocket of every fan,” WSC Sports VP of account management Damian Alon Browarnik told Ynet. “We are here to ensure that Israeli technology is at the forefront of delivering that experience.”

WSC Sports VP of strategic partnerships Yitav Topaz told i24NEWS the goal was for content to reach fans “in near real time, at the peak of their excitement”.

The same AI revolution is reaching grassroots football through another Israeli firm, Pixellot, whose automated camera systems record more than two million matches a year across over 80 countries and stream more than 850,000 games live. The technology tracks the ball and player movement and produces highlights and statistics without a camera operator, giving youth players access to every touch and pass alongside personalised performance data that can be shared with coaches and scouts.

“In the past, scouts had to travel physically to identify talent,” Pixellot marketing operations lead Ariel Yehezkel told i24NEWS. “Today they can evaluate players from anywhere in the world using video and data.”

Capabilities once reserved for clubs such as Barcelona, Manchester City and Real Madrid, he said, had “become the standard on neighbourhood fields”.

Feeding the betting and media industries is Ashkelon-based LSports, which uses AI and machine learning to track millions of real-time data points and convert them into live statistics, automated visualisations and fan experiences for bookmakers and media outlets.

“The World Cup demands the absolute highest standards of accuracy and speed, and that is exactly where Israeli innovation thrives,” LSports CEO Dotan Lazar said. “While the players create history on the pitch, our technology ensures that millions of fans, media channels, and platforms across the globe receive the most precise, thrilling and immersive data experience possible.”

On the ticketing side, Tel Aviv-based SeatPick, a global ticket resale price comparison platform, is helping manage what it expects to be unprecedented demand. The company has shifted its operations in Israel and globally to a 24/7 model for the tournament.

“From data, content and supply to user experience and operations, every part of the business is aligned to maximise impact, making this a defining moment for SeatPick in terms of growth, visibility and execution,” chief technical officer and co-founder Guy Kogel said.

If the visible side of the tournament is powered by Israeli content and data, so too is its defence. Israeli firms are central to protecting the event against cyberattacks, fraud and drones.

Cybersecurity company KELA Group, which has described the World Cup as the “largest digital battlefield in history”, told The Jerusalem Post the tournament presented an “enormous digital attack surface” – roughly 6.5 million ticketed attendees, a worldwide audience potentially reaching six billion, and a “massively interconnected digital supply chain” spanning vendors, transport, hospitality and cloud services, in which the failure of a single link could disrupt core operations.

KELA’s vice-president of solution engineering, Or Lev, said the company monitors hacktivists, nation-state actors and advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, which typically target critical infrastructure for espionage or seek financial gain through ticket scams and spoofed FIFA domains.

Geopolitics, she said, shapes the threat: KELA highlighted Russian and Iranian actors using intelligence and psychological warfare in past events, and warned of Chinese groups focused on telecoms and utility infrastructure.

Lev said KELA had already identified more than 1.5 million compromised accounts that could serve as entry points, including over 7000 connected directly to FIFA domains and around 3000 linked to potentially sensitive sites, all discovered in the past month.

“Our main advantage is that we have access to everything – all of the discussions happening underground – we see it all in real time,” she said, adding that the company alerts authorities, mostly in the US, to block threats before they can be exploited.

Guarding the airspace above stadiums is Sentrycs, a subsidiary of Ondas Network, which was selected to deploy counter-drone protections across most World Cup venues under contracts valued in the millions of dollars. The Jerusalem Post reported the firm’s “cyber-over-RF” technology enables passive detection, tracking and identification of unauthorised drones, allowing authorised operators to take control of and land them without jamming or kinetic measures that could interfere with communications.

“Events of this scale and complexity highlight the growing need to protect low-altitude airspace against the threat of unauthorised drone activity,” Ondas chairman and CEO Eric Brock said.