How a Danish AI startup is analysing World Cup matches for Portugal

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The Danish AI company Alai has moved quickly from the university startup scene in Aalborg to the international stage of elite football.

Today, its technology is used by the Portuguese national team at the 2026 World Cup, where it supports real-time match analysis from the sidelines.

Alai develops artificial intelligence tools for football performance analysis, allowing coaches and analysts to read the game with greater speed and precision than before.

Founded in 2024 as a spinout from Aalborg University, the company has already processed thousands of professional matches.

We spoke with Mikkel Dalsager Jungersen, co-founder and COO of Alai, about the journey from idea to international breakthrough, how the collaboration with Portugal came about, and where the technology might lead next.

“The close collaboration and rapid development have been key to us now being part of their setup at the World Cup”

Here, analysts from the Portuguese national team use the Danish AI platform Alai for real-time match analysis at the World Cup.

Mikkel, how did the idea for Alai come about?

“Alai originates from a project at Aalborg University, where we worked with AaB to explore how artificial intelligence could help coaches understand a football match while it is being played.

We quickly realised that enormous amounts of data were already being collected from professional matches, but that much of the analysis was still done manually after the final whistle. That led us to build an AI system that could automatically turn all that information into actionable insights while the game is still in progress.”

“It tracks every player’s movements and automatically identifies situations that may be of interest"

How did you go from a startup in Aalborg to working with the Portuguese national team at the World Cup? How does a deal like that happen?

“It actually started quite simply.

We got in touch with people around the Portuguese national team and took the initiative to start a dialogue ourselves. We showed them the platform, demonstrated what the technology could do, and from there the collaboration developed.

Over the past months, we’ve worked closely with their analysis department. They’ve come with requests and ideas, and our job has been to quickly turn that feedback into new features. That close collaboration and rapid development have been key to us now being part of their setup at the World Cup.”

What can your technology actually help coaches and analysts see or understand faster than before?

“Imagine having to track all 22 players on the pitch at the same time, while also identifying the patterns that emerge during a match. That’s almost impossible for a human to do.

That’s where our AI comes in. It tracks every player’s movement and automatically identifies situations that may be of interest. That could be where a team consistently leaves space, where the opposition repeatedly creates problems, or which tactical patterns keep recurring.

In that way, analysts get a much faster overview and can spend their time evaluating solutions rather than first having to search for the problems”

“We believe that AI will become just as natural a tool in elite football as video analysis is today”

Football is the obvious use case, but do you see Alai as a football company, or as an analysis platform that could eventually be used in other sports and contexts?

“Right now, our full focus is on football. We are already working with some of the biggest clubs and national teams in Europe, and we still see enormous potential in developing the technology further within football specifically.

At the same time, we are building an AI that analyses complex movement patterns in real time. That technology could, in the long term, be applied to other sports and perhaps even other industries. But for now, the ambition is clear: we want to be among the global leaders in AI for professional football.”

When you look three to five years ahead, what is the ambition for Alai? Which markets, customers or opportunities are you aiming for?

“We have already taken the first steps and are currently working with some of Europe’s biggest clubs and national teams. The ambition now is to build on that and make Alai a fixed part of the daily workflow in the world’s top football organisations.

We believe that AI will become just as natural a tool in elite football as video analysis is today. In three to five years, we hope Alai is the platform coaches and analysts open when they prepare for matches or make decisions during games.”