In this special episode, we dive into the latest groundbreaking research presented at CVPR 2025, the premier conference in computer vision. We explore fascinating papers transforming sports analysis, including:

• Ball spin and trajectory prediction in table tennis broadcasts.

• Advanced puck localization techniques revolutionizing ice hockey analytics.

• AthletePose3D, an innovative benchmark dataset pushing the limits of 3D human pose estimation.

• VGG-T, winner of the Best Paper Award, introducing the first feed-forward structure-from-motion method enhanced by ConvexSplatting.

• UniSoccer, a universal AI model aiming to understand soccer footage from every angle.

• FSBench, the first-of-its-kind benchmark dataset focused on artistic and technical understanding of figure skating performances.

Your hosts:
Alexandre H. Bustamante

Anthony Cioppa

Silvio Giancola

References:

Conferences: CVPR, ICCV, ECCV

VGGT: Visual Geometry Grounded Transformer

Towards Universal Soccer Video Understanding

FSBench: Figure Skating Benchmark for Advancing Artistic Sports Understanding

AthletePose3D: A Benchmark Dataset for 3D Human Pose Estimation and Kinematic Validation in Athletic Movements

Ice Hockey Puck Localization Using Contextual Cues

Towards Ball Spin and Trajectory Analysis in Table Tennis Broadcast Videos via Physically Grounded Synthetic-to-Real Transfer

In this episode, we talk with Ian, a researcher and active referee, about how AI is reshaping the world of officiating. We explore innovations in referee decision support, new VAR-like systems, and the role of computer vision in improving accuracy and consistency. A look into the future of fairer, more efficient refereeing at all levels of sport. 

Your hosts:
Alexandre H. Bustamante

Anthony Cioppa

Silvio Giancola

References:

VARS: Video Assistant Referee System for Automated Soccer Decision Making from Multiple Views

X-VARS: Introducing Explainability in Football Refereeing with Multi-Modal Large Language Model

In this episode, we dive deep into the world of sports video data extraction. We break down the various types of sports data, from traditional box scores and detailed event (play-by-play) data to advanced tracking metrics and explore how each type contributes uniquely to sports analytics. The discussion highlights the technological challenges involved in extracting accurate data, including issues around precision, automation, and scalability. Finally, we share our insights and conclusions on the state of sports data extraction, and what we consider to be a key dependency. 

Your hosts:
Alexandre H. Bustamante

Anthony Cioppa

Silvio Giancola

References:
SoccerNet-v2: A Dataset and Benchmarks for Holistic Understanding of Broadcast Soccer Videos

References:
SoccerNet-v2: A Dataset and Benchmarks for Holistic Understanding of Broadcast Soccer Videos
SoccerNet Game State Reconstruction: End-to-End Athlete Tracking and Identification on a Minimap
X-VARS: Introducing Explainability in Football Refereeing with Multi-Modal Large Language Models
SoccerNet-Caption: Dense Video Captioning for Soccer Broadcasts Commentaries