If stereotypes are to be believed, techies and athletes do not always have a lot in common. But thanks to the emergence of a new segment of technology, known as sport tech, they are increasingly playing for the same team.

“The sporting industry doesn’t typically understand tech and tech companies don’t understand sports,” says Oren Simanian, a former top league soccer referee who founded Colosseum Sport, an international sport tech innovation group, headquartered in Tel Aviv. “But there is huge disruptive potential coming from areas of technology such as AI, electro-optics, machine learning and the Internet of Things, and we see that teams are more exposed and open to them, especially in the US and Europe. We are entering exciting times in the sports industry.”