Join the AWS World Sports Innovation Cup – Transform Sports with Your Innovation
Football fandom has changed. Your ideas can shape what comes next. In partnership with adidas, Bundesliga (DFL) and Slalom, AWS is launching the World Sports Innovation Cup 2026 — a global student hackathon with seven challenges that will reshape how millions of fans experience football.
UPDATE : deadline for submission is now 27th May instead of 17th May.
AWS World Sports Innovation Cup 2026: Build the Future of Football Fan Engagement
Casual fans discover the game through viral clips and social moments, not 90-minute broadcasts. Passionate supporters demand real-time insights and competitive experiences. Fans everywhere want to celebrate together—whether they're in stadiums, living rooms, or on their phones.
This hackathon tackles these real fan needs head-on. Transform match day from a single event into an all-day cultural experience. Use AI to make football knowledge engaging and accessible. Convert massive datasets into emotional stories fans can't wait to share. Design social experiences where communities predict outcomes, react to goals, and compete as matches unfold.
Your solutions could define how the next generation experiences football. Pick your challenge level—beginner to advanced—and start building.
Getting Started
- For L100 challenges: Register here
- For L200 / L300 challenges: Register here
Want to learn more ? Have questions ?
If you want to ask questions to the AWS team or find other participants to form a team you can join uns on the dedicated event discord server : https://discord.gg/RmtJWVHJjQ
Choose What You Build and Compete
You'll build an AI-powered application for one of several challenges spanning three difficulty levels: Beginner (L100), Intermediate (L200), and Advanced (L300). Challenges cover five core areas applied to football: fan engagement, data storytelling, real-time social experiences, 3D data exploration, and brand-connected experiences.
adidas and DFL have each created a joint challenge, and both partners have contributed one PartyRock challenge each — resulting in three challenges available on AWS PartyRock, with a single overall winner across all PartyRock challenges.
L100 challenges use AWS PartyRock with unlimited participation capacity. L200 and L300 challenges require AWS experience and coding skills, utilizing AWS accounts and Kiro. Technical challenges are limited (first-come, first-served after kick-off event).
Presentation of Beginner challenges (L100)
Build using PartyRock (no-code AI app builder). No technical skills required.
Challenge: Beyond the 90 minutes
Football doesn't start at kickoff and doesn't end at the final whistle. Fans want to feel connected to the match all day long. Build a PartyRock app that works as a match day companion for Bundesliga fans, powered by the Adidas and Bundesliga ecosystem. The app should keep fans engaged across the entire match day.
Challenge: AI-Powered Quiz Generator
Think you know football? Prove it! Build a PartyRock app that generates trivia questions and puts fans' Bundesliga knowledge to the test. Create a quiz generator that produces football questions on the fly. It should adapt to the fan's interests and knowledge level so it's fun for everyone — casual viewers and die-hard supporters alike.
Challenge: Part of the Game your Way
For millions of casual fans, football lives in highlights, social clips, memes, and post-match conversations — not live broadcasts. Adidas sits at the intersection of sport, culture, and lifestyle, and you're going to help fans feel part of the game on their own terms. Build a PartyRock app that takes match results and key moments and turns them into personalized fan content that casual supporters can use to stay in the conversation.
Presentation of Intermediate and Advanced Challenges (L200 - L300)
Challenge: Build "Bundesliga Wrapped"
If Spotify can do it for music, why not football? Design a personalized year/matchday/first half of the season-in-review experience that makes every fan feel like the main character of their Bundesliga story. Develop a concept and prototype for "Bundesliga Wrapped" — a personalized summary that transforms raw data into emotional, shareable moments.
Intermediate Level (L200): Build using agentic AI with Kiro and AWS Sandbox accounts.
Challenge: Unlock the Power of 3D Football Data
Got 705 million data points? We do. Dive into real Bundesliga match data from five games and reimagine how we understand football. Work with cutting-edge 3D movement tracking that captures every sprint, pass, and tactical shift. Create game-changing KPIs, build fan experiences, or adopt brilliant ideas from other sports and adapt them for football.
Advanced Level (L300): Build using agentic AI with Kiro and AWS Sandbox accounts. Data analytics skills required.
Challenge: A Real Time Social Match Experience
Design and build a real‑time, social fan experience that brings groups of fans together around a live (or simulated‑live) football match. Using live match data as your heartbeat, you'll create a multiplayer experience where what happens on the pitch directly shapes what happens in your app — and where fans interact with each other, not just the screen.
Advanced Level (L300): You will build using agentic AI and Kiro and AWS Sandbox accounts. You will build a real‑time, multiplayer fan experience using AWS services, including front‑end development, backend APIs, live interactions, and basic gamification.
Challenge: Connected Arena: A Real-Time Multiplayer Fan Engagement Ecosystem
Football fandom doesn't stop at the final whistle — and it shouldn't live on just one screen. Design and build a real-time, multiplayer fan engagement ecosystem that transforms how groups of fans interact with football and with each other. Your experience should feel like a social, competitive, and rewarding layer on top of matchday, where multiple fans are connected at the same time and events on the pitch trigger shared moments, challenges, and rewards.
Advanced Level (L300): Build using agentic AI with Kiro and AWS Sandbox accounts. Real-time multiplayer concept/prototype using AWS services, gamification, and end-to-end architecture documentation required.
Prizes
Winners will be announced in a separate article on AWS Builder Center so we higly encourage all of you to create a Builder Center profile before registering so we can highlight you !
The three teams that receive the highest scores will be selected as first, second, and third place winners. Each L200 and L300 challenge will have three (3) winners. For the L100/PartyRock challenge, there will be three (3) winners for all challenges combined. The first, second, and third place prizes will be Adidas and Bundesliga (DFL) swag and/or invitations to sport events. (Final list of prizes will be added as soon as possible).
Judging Criteria
Judges from Adidas and Bundesliga will score eligible entries utilizing the following criteria: Technical Innovation (34%) Implementation Quality (33%) Market Impact (33%).
Timeline
- March 30, 2026: Virtual Kick-off Event (2 sessions to accommodate everyone)
- March 31, 2026: Registration open
- April 1 – May 17, 2026: Building Period
- May 27, 2026: Submission Deadline (global)
- June 16, 2026: On-Site Event at DFB Campus Frankfurt
- June 17, 2026: Hackathon highlights featured at AWS On Air from the New York Summit
- June 20, 2026: Winners Announcement
Eligibility Requirements
The competition is open to currently enrolled students, forming individuals or teams of up to 3 members (1 team captain). Student status will be verified for all winners prior to prize distribution.
Participants Must:
- Be 18 years or older
- Be currently enrolled in an accredited educational institution (university, college, or equivalent)
- Use Kiro for at least a portion of development (L200 and L300 challenges)
- Build within AWS Free Tier limits
- Reside in an eligible country (EMEA, Americas, or Asia regions)
AWS employees, their immediate family members, and members of their households are not eligible to participate. See registration form to read the terms in full details.
About Our Partners
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga
DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga is responsible for the operation and marketing of Germany's Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. With 36 professional clubs, the Bundesliga is renowned for its fan-centric culture, competitive balance, and commitment to innovation. The DFL captures and analyzes millions of data points per match through advanced tracking systems, and is committed to making football more accessible, engaging, and inclusive for fans worldwide.
adidas
adidas is one of the world's leading sports brands, designing footwear, apparel, and accessories for athletes and fans across the globe. Founded in 1949 in Herzogenaurach, Germany, adidas has been at the forefront of sports innovation for over 75 years. The brand is deeply committed to innovation — from pioneering boot technology to digital experiences that connect fans to the game in new ways.
Slalom
Slalom is the official technical partner of the AWS World Sports Innovation Cup 2026, responsible for provisioning and managing the Innovation Sandbox accounts that power the L200 and L300 challenges. Each registered team will receive a dedicated AWS Sandbox account, giving participants access to a secure, pre-configured cloud environment to build and deploy their solutions within AWS Free Tier limits.
Together, DFL, adidas, and AWS are committed to democratizing innovation by giving students access to real-world data, cutting-edge tools, and mentorship from industry experts — shaping the future of fan engagement and building careers in sports technology.
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