Hudl open submissions for the Hudl Performance Insights 2026 research competition, with winners invited to showcase their findings to the event audience.
After announcing the return of the event to London in November, we are pleased to open the call for research proposals for the 2026 Hudl Performance Insights Research Competition.
This competition has a long history of giving researchers and analysts the opportunity to present original work directly to analytics professionals working within the industry at the event. Finalists will be invited to present their research at Hudl Performance Insights 2026, which will take place on Friday 13th November at the Emirates Stadium in London.
As with previous years, accepted proposals will grant researchers access to Hudl’s proprietary datasets to support their analysis.
Proposal Themes and Details
For this year’s competition, we want to focus the research on aspects of the game that happen away from the ball, as well as the optimisation of dead-ball situations. We are looking for proposals that address one of the following three areas:
Off-Ball Dynamics: Analysing space creation, off-ball movement, and how teams exploit space in possession.
Defensive Shape & Structural Behaviour: Evaluating team compactness, defensive shifting, and the efficiency of pressing structures.
Set Pieces: Examining routine design, execution, and organisation during dead-ball phases.
Available Datasets
To support your research, successful proposals will have access to Hudl's proprietary data. This year, we are introducing a new data offering alongside our traditional datasets:
Broadcast X&Y Tracking & Event Data: A 30-match sample of Hudl’s new Broadcast X&Y tracking data from the 2025/26 Italian Serie A season. The corresponding Hudl Statsbomb event data for these matches will also be provided, allowing researchers to combine both datasets and enhance the analysis opportunities.
Hudl Statsbomb Event & 360 Data: Consistent with previous competitions, researchers can also request access to five full competition-seasons of Hudl Statsbomb event and 360 data if their project requires a larger sample of games. This can be configured as five consecutive seasons of a single league, five different competitions within the same season, or another combination that suits the research design.
Proposal Review & Judging Criteria
All submissions will be reviewed by a panel from Hudl's data science and analysis departments. We are looking for high-quality, practical research, and proposals will be evaluated based on the following three criteria:
Originality: How innovative is your approach to analysing the data? We want to see fresh methodologies or unique angles on our new Broadcast X&Y tracking and Hudl Statsbomb datasets.
Application: Can your work be used to help clubs make better decisions or be the basis for future research?
Feasibility: Is your proposal a realistic one for the given timeframe, considering the complexity of the data and the analysis required?
Proposal Submission
If you would like to submit a proposal, please complete the application process by Friday 3rd July 2026.
Your proposal should clearly outline your hypothesis, the specific datasets you require, and your intended methodology. Successful candidates will be notified by the following week, at which point data access will be granted to begin the research phase.
Finalists will be invited to London to present their completed work to an audience of industry professionals at Hudl Performance Insights 2026 on Friday, November 13th at the Emirates Stadium.
Please submit your research proposal via this Google Form by Friday 3rd July.
Only one proposal per person or group. Successful proposals will be required to present at the conference (circa 20-minute presentation) and will be given free admission (maximum of 1 ticket per accepted proposal).
Best of luck,
The Hudl Team
