The Premier League launched an artificial intelligence-powered digital companion for football fans on Tuesday, marking the start of a five-year partnership with Microsoft that will transform how the world's most-watched football league engages with its global audience.
The collaboration makes Microsoft the official cloud and AI partner for the Premier League's digital platforms, with the technology giant taking over from Oracle, whose cloud computing agreement expired in May. The partnership aims to modernize the fan experience for 1.8 billion supporters across 189 countries.
The centerpiece of the partnership is the Premier League Companion, an AI tool powered by Microsoft's Copilot that launched Tuesday on the league's mobile app and website1. The system leverages Azure OpenAI to access information from more than 30 seasons of statistics, 300,000 articles, and 9,000 videos, allowing fans to query personalized content about clubs, players, and matches2.
"This partnership will help us engage with fans in new ways — from personalized content to real-time match insights," said Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive3.
Future enhancements will include multilingual question-answering capabilities through text and audio translation, with Microsoft AI integration planned for the Fantasy Premier League experience later in the season1.
The partnership extends beyond fan-facing features to encompass what the companies describe as one of the most substantial technology transformations in the league's history1. Microsoft will modernize the Premier League's digital infrastructure, broadcast match analysis, and organizational operations across four key areas: fan engagement, match insights and analysis, cloud transformation, and organizational productivity2.
The Premier League is migrating its core technology infrastructure to Microsoft Azure, while Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and Dynamics 365 will modernize internal operations2. Azure AI Foundry services will enhance live match experiences with real-time data overlays and post-match analysis3.
Microsoft's sports partnerships have expanded in recent years, with the company already serving as a partner for Spain's La Liga1. The Premier League deal represents a broader trend of sports organizations embracing AI and cloud technologies to enhance fan engagement and operational efficiency.
"By leveraging our secure cloud and AI technologies — including Azure AI Foundry Services with Azure OpenAI, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Dynamics 365 — we will transform how football is experienced, delivered and managed on and off the field," said Judson Althoff, Microsoft's executive vice president and chief commercial officer2.
The new Premier League season begins in 47 days2.
