This year’s Soccerex Global Convention taking place 26th – 28th September, in Manchester, will showcase the use of Virtual Reality in football with dedicated sessions  focusing on the importance of using the feature, as well as the potential the technology has to make a very positive impact on the game.

Senior figures from leading Virtual Reality firms such as Beyond Sports, Laduma and Samsung will be joined by fellow industry leaders, including The Obama Campaign’s digital strategist, on a presentation and panel discussion that will provide exclusive insight into Virtual Reality’s place within football, its ability to provide clubs with extra revenue streams, the impact it can have on improving player performance and its potential to totally revolutionise fan experience.

In the first of two sessions scheduled in The Academy, Beyond Sports’ Business Director, Sander Schouten and Performance Analysis, Max Reckers will deliver a presentation entitled “Beyond the dream” in which they will discuss how VR can be used to improve players’ decision making skills & spatial awareness.

The company builds virtual reality simulators of real matches, based on real data. In turn this develops different tools to be used for match analysis, custom tailored fitness programs and fan experience.  Sander and Max will both give their thoughts on how VR technology is progressing within the game and what Beyond Sports are doing to develop the tool further.

Following Beyond Sports’ session in The Academy, an expert panel entitled “Virtual Reality & Sport: gimmick or game-changer?” will see the future for VR in sport discussed, and whether the features  it provides will continue to have a significant impact within the game.

The set of speakers will give their thoughts on the use of VR in sport already, what it will look like in the future and how clubs can not only drive fan engagement and enhance training methods, but also use VR to increase their revenues.

The panel will consist of Laduma Executive Director of Creative, Christian Serge, Gear VR at Samsung Electronics Product Manager, Jason Lovell and Digital Strategist for Obama Campaigns 2008 & 2012, Mike Moffo.

This diverse group will bring unique insight to the session, with each member having varying experience across a range of different industries. Mike will bring his extensive knowledge from the political world, with Christian and Jason providing more of a technical understanding of the virtual reality world.

The VR sessions form part of a thought provoking conference program taking place over three conference facilities.  This year’s agenda will feature a number of the industry’s leading figures discussing topics such as Stadia and Major Events, Sponsorship and Social responsibly within the game.