Spain's top-flight LaLiga claims it is set to become the world’s first domestic soccer competition to roll out connected ball technology across every match, starting from the upcoming 2026-27 season.
The ball has been developed in collaboration with German sportswear giant Puma, LaLiga’s official match ball supplier, and connectivity and automation firm Kinexon.
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The technology will be rolled out in close coordination with the country’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) from the first matchday of the new season, which begins this weekend.
It will be deployed across all LaLiga matches and will be integrated alongside Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and semi-automated offside technologies, and will also be accompanied by a training programme for referees and VAR officials led by the CTA.
Each match will feature 14 connected balls: one in play, another held by the fourth official, and 12 balls positioned at fixed points around the pitch as part of the multi-ball system.
The league said the ball has been designed to “support refereeing decisions, enhance the transparency of the competition, and improve the audiovisual experience for fans.”
The system features a radio-frequency sensor developed by Kinexon and integrated into the official Puma match ball.
The sensor “continuously and accurately” transmits real-time information on the ball’s position and the exact moment of each contact. The data generated by the sensor will be captured via a network of around 12 antennas installed in each stadium and integrated into the technological ecosystem that LaLiga utilises for the competition.
LaLiga stated that the sensor “does not alter the behaviour, performance, or playing characteristics of the Puma match ball.”
According to LaLiga, extensive validation tests and blind trials carried out with players have confirmed that there is no perceptible difference between a standard match ball and one fitted with sensors in terms of feel, trajectory, weight, balance or the overall playing experience.
The introduction of the connected ball will also see the creation of xBALL, a new official layer of match data that will be incorporated in broadcasting, digital technology, and match analysis.
This will be compatible with LaLiga’s international broadcast signal, digital products and future ‘second-screen’ experiences and will be rolled out progressively following the first few matchdays.
Following its roll-out in the top-tier LaLiga, the technology is also expected to be introduced in the second-tier Segunda Division from the 2027-28 season onwards.
At the 2026 World Cup, the match ball created by Adidas featured connected ball technology referred to as the ‘snickometer’. Similar to the ‘snicko’ technology used in cricket, the system used an internal motion-sensor chip that displayed a spike on a waveform graphic to detect faint, invisible player touches.
When a player brushes the ball, a spike appears on a television graphic for the VAR, proving contact occurred even if regular camera angles are inconclusive.
While cricket's traditional Snickometer relies on audio microphones near the stumps, soccer’s version relies on physical motion sensors inside the ball.
The Snickometer was used on two occasions in the World Cup, most notably in the match between Croatia and Portugal when a dramatic late review spotted a microscopic deflection off hair/boot alignment that ruled out Croatia’s injury-time equalizer for offside.
