Field of Play exists to expand the horizons of football in particular and sport in general.

 

While football has made enormous progress in its use of data over the past decade, many of the hardest problems sport faces have already been solved elsewhere. Other sports have developed better ways to evaluate performance, communicate insight and support decision making. Industry has created powerful methods to collect, model and apply data at scale. Field of Play brings those ideas to the stage, exposing practitioners to new perspectives and showing how lessons from different environments can be applied directly in their own work.

 

The conference was born out of conversations within Manchester’s open data community and was created to address a clear gap. Many sports data events focus on theory without application, function largely as sales platforms or are priced in a way that excludes the people doing the work inside real clubs around the world. At Field of Play, every speaker is selected because they have delivered real value through data and can explain clearly how they did it, regardless of the size or resources of their organisation. The focus is always on practical impact. The standard is simple: every attendee should leave having learned something they can apply immediately.

 

Field of Play is primarily football focused, but intentionally outward looking. Alongside leading practitioners from clubs and federations, speakers from other sports and industries share ideas that challenge assumptions and broaden thinking. This creates an environment where analysts, coaches, executives, data scientists and curious newcomers can learn from one another and see familiar problems in new ways.

 

At its core, Field of Play is about applying data better in every sense: collecting it, managing it, communicating it and using it to make better decisions. It is for anyone who believes that thoughtful use of data can improve performance and help teams win.

 

The conference takes place in Manchester, a city built on ideas. From its industrial past to its influence on modern sport, Manchester has always been a place where innovation thrives. Field of Play continues that tradition, bringing together people who are serious about improving sport and ambitious about what comes next.

 

Our goal is simple: to build the most ambitious, forward looking sports data conference in football and sport, and to create a stage where the next generation of ideas and the next generation of data leaders emerge.