Federico Pienvoi, CEO for MENA and APAC at Globant, explains how AI, agentic systems and connected digital platforms are reshaping fan engagement, stadium operations and the future of smart sporting events.
FIFA World Cup 2026 marked a defining moment for the role of artificial intelligence in global sport, demonstrating how AI can support event operations, fan engagement, content delivery and digital experience at unprecedented scale.
For Globant, which has worked with FIFA to build a connected digital ecosystem across fan experiences, operations, content and partner activations, the tournament offered a powerful example of how agentic AI, cloud platforms and unified digital identity can transform major sporting events from one-off spectacles into continuous, data-driven engagement platforms.
TahawulTech spoke to Federico Pienvoi, CEO for MENA and APAC at Globant, about the lessons from FIFA 2026, the growing role of AI Pods, the future of personalised fan experiences, and how the GCC can build on Qatar 2022 and FIFA 2026 to lead the next generation of AI-powered smart sporting events ahead of Saudi Arabia 2034.
Interview Excerpts
How did FIFA World Cup 2026 demonstrate the role of AI in planning, managing and enhancing major sporting events?
AI is redefining how major sporting events operate by enabling continuous, intelligent engagement across entire ecosystems. FIFA World Cup 2026 was the largest and most complex sporting event ever staged, featuring more teams, matches, venues and digital touchpoints than any tournament before.
What made this edition significant was that AI was not simply applied on top of existing processes. It became part of the core engine of how work was delivered. Over the past four years, FIFA and Globant worked together to build the connected digital ecosystem behind that evolution, bringing fan experiences, operations, content and partner activations into one scalable foundation.
Globant introduced AI Pods, which are service units where AI agents execute work while domain experts supervise delivery and ensure continuous outputs.
This approach delivered measurable results, including a 20% improvement in efficiency and delivery speed, greater predictability across execution cycles, and full traceability across workflows and decisions. Most importantly, the system did not merely execute. It learned, evolved and continuously improved. For sporting organisations, this signals a major shift: they can now move at the speed of opportunity, with AI-powered optimisation of platforms, workflows and fan engagement models in real time.
What role did agentic AI play in creating more personalised fan experiences before, during and after FIFA World Cup 2026?
Agentic AI played a central role in transforming fragmented fan interactions into unified, direct communication channels. Every fan interaction became an opportunity to understand, engage and build a longer-term relationship with supporters. The foundation for this lies in initiatives such as FIFA ID, which supports a direct-to-fan strategy and enables organisations to move beyond anonymous audiences towards genuine relationships with billions of fans. Through AI-powered systems, sporting organisations can anticipate fan behaviour, deploy new digital experiences faster, and continuously optimise content, platforms and journeys. The Tournament App served as a gateway to live event participation, while AI enabled content to be created, distributed and personalised at scale. The result is a more consistent engagement model across competitions, not only during tournament cycles but also between events. Fan engagement is becoming a continuous, data-driven relationship that creates long-term value rather than isolated moments of interaction.
How are digital twins, AI and cloud platforms transforming stadium operations, security and event resilience at scale?
Stadium operations are moving from disconnected initiatives to unified platforms built for continuity, performance and growth. FIFA World Cup 2026 demonstrated how a fragmented digital landscape can be transformed into a connected ecosystem that supports continuous innovation. AI Pods helped scale operations with greater efficiency by enabling persistent, AI-powered systems to build, improve and scale capabilities. Full traceability across workflows and decisions became especially important for security, resilience and operational integrity. This model also allows institutional knowledge to compound across events. Lessons learned from one tournament can directly enhance future competitions, helping organisers improve planning, response times and fan services. The in-stadium experience is also changing. Digital avatars are increasingly acting as virtual companions for spectators, offering contextual insights, real-time information and match-related data.
Mixed reality is also creating new ways for fans to blend live sport with virtual content, interactive visualisations and immersive experiences.
For events operating at World Cup scale, this means organisers can deliver consistency while adapting in real time to changing demands across multiple venues, matches and digital channels.
With billions of digital interactions during global tournaments, what technologies proved essential to delivering seamless, secure and immersive experiences?
Managing billions of digital interactions requires three core pillars: unified identity systems, scalable content distribution and AI-powered continuous optimisation. FIFA+ and FIFA ID are examples of this approach. Together, they enable unified fan identity and global content distribution across competitions, ensuring that fans receive a coherent and secure experience regardless of where or how they engage. The AI Pods model was particularly valuable at this scale because it enabled faster experimentation and innovation while maintaining enterprise-grade quality standards. First-party data capabilities also supported new business functions while ensuring fan interactions remained secure and meaningful. The technology stack for modern tournaments is no longer only about keeping systems running. It must also unlock new value at scale, support large numbers of concurrent users, enable smarter partner activation, expand monetisation opportunities and allow new digital experiences to be deployed in response to real-time demand.
What were the biggest digital and operational lessons from FIFA World Cup 2026 for future host nations and sporting bodies?
One of the biggest lessons is that technology must be treated as a long-term operating model, not as a short-term event layer. Major sporting events now require connected ecosystems that can scale, learn and evolve across multiple years. FIFA World Cup 2026 showed the importance of building a digital foundation early, integrating fan engagement, operations, content, identity and partner activation into one connected environment. Another key lesson is that AI works best when it is combined with expert human oversight. Agentic systems can accelerate delivery and improve efficiency, but domain experts remain critical in guiding decisions, maintaining quality and ensuring accountability.
For future host nations, the focus should be on building platforms that are resilient, intelligent and adaptable. The real value comes when every event, interaction and operational cycle improves the next one.
Following Qatar 2022 and FIFA World Cup 2026, how can the GCC establish itself as a global leader in AI-powered smart sporting events ahead of Saudi Arabia 2034?The GCC has a major opportunity to position itself at the forefront of AI-powered sporting events by moving from managing complexity to unlocking continuous growth through technology. The journey from Qatar 2022 to FIFA World Cup 2026, and now towards Saudi Arabia 2034, provides a powerful opportunity to build on lessons learned and set new benchmarks for intelligent sporting events. The key is to adopt delivery models that prioritise outcomes, not just effort. This means moving away from purely project-based thinking and towards persistent, AI-powered systems that continuously improve. The collaboration between FIFA and Globant offers a useful model: build the digital fabric early, test new execution models through targeted initiatives, and scale successful approaches across long-term transformation roadmaps. For the GCC, this means investing not only in physical infrastructure, but also in digital capability, AI talent, cloud platforms, data strategy and fan engagement ecosystems. The region has the ambition, scale and event pipeline to become a global reference point for how AI can power the next generation of smart sporting events.
Source: Tahawul Tech