Globant’s MENA CEO on SPL, FIFA’s digital transformation

If the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America is any indication, football is only getting more digital from here. Sports tech companies are promising fans and tournament organizers an AI-powered future that customizes every experience to the fan’s taste and makes lineup submissions, referee assignments, kit selection, and more much easier.

Shortly after the tournament wrapped up, we sat down with Federico Pienovi (LinkedIn), CEO for APAC & MENA at sports tech firm Globant, to talk about the firm’s partnership with the Saudi Pro League, its role in the 2026 World Cup (and the outlook for the 2034 World Cup), and the biggest obstacles to building a world-class sports technology ecosystem in Saudi Arabia. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM: How is sports technology changing the Saudi Pro League and the wider sports ecosystem?

Federico Pienovi (FP): Sports technology is fundamentally reshaping how the Saudi Pro League and the broader Saudi sports ecosystem operate, moving the industry from traditional event-based models toward integrated, fan-centric platforms. Saudi Arabia, backed by an unprecedented investment program across leagues, venues, and homegrown competitions, is accelerating faster than any market before it. The Kingdom is executing a mandate that spans league development, federation reform, and global event acquisition, with sport projected to contribute USD 22 bn to the Saudi economy by 2030.

What makes this transformation distinctive is the absence of legacy constraints. Saudi Arabia has the prospect to build the world’s most connected sporting ecosystem from the ground up, with full design freedom. Technology is pushing the industry past old B2B media and sponsorship models into a direct-to-consumer era, where organizations must own the end-to-end fan journey, from ticketing and merchandising to content and loyalty. The pipeline of marquee events, including the annual Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Saudi Pro League, the AFC Asian Cup in 2027, and culminating in the FIFA World Cup 2034, gives the region a generational mandate to set new global standards for what sporting events can deliver.

E: Globant is providing the Saudi Pro League with AI-powered competition management technology. What has the partnership delivered so far?

FP: Since 2025, the Saudi Pro League has implemented Sportian’s Competition Management Solution to fundamentally transform its operations. The system leverages AI and data-analysis tools to accelerate previously manual tasks while incorporating the ability to detect and correct human error, significantly reducing the administrative burden and allowing competition staff to focus on strategic innovation rather than routine processes.

The suite enables seamless digital enrollment for players, automated registration of new signings, and comprehensive real-time matchday operations, including lineup submissions, referee assignments, kit selection, and compliance processes. Critically, the system has been designed with security at its core, safeguarding sensitive data to protect the integrity of the competition and the privacy of all participants. This represents exactly the kind of connected intelligence infrastructure that sports organizations need to build before 2034, addressing gaps in fragmented systems, disconnected data, and siloed operations that have historically constrained leagues worldwide.

E: The company is also developing Qiddiya’s digital experience for visitors. Where does the project stand today?

FP: Globant has successfully delivered Qiddiya's main digital assets for Seven, Aquarabia, and Six Flags, creating an end-to-end digital experience transformation that translates Qiddiya’s bold entertainment promise into a platform designed around how guests actually engage. The guest journey is now digitally connected from arrival to departure, with intuitive tools that help visitors plan, navigate, and enjoy every moment of their experience.

Personalization has become a core value driver. Through tailored offers and flexible digital experiences, the platform deepens guest connections while driving revenue growth. Equally important is the operational backbone: streamlined digital operations boost efficiency, simplify guest services, and reduce friction at every touchpoint. This represents a proof point for how thoughtful digital transformation, focused on real guest behavior rather than technology for its own sake, drives entertainment megaprojects.

E: Globally, Globant supported FIFA’s digital platforms and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. What role did the company play during the tournament?

FP: The partnership began in October 2022, when Globant became a Tournament Supporter for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and a Global Platform Supporter of FIFA+, making it the first Argentine company ever to sponsor a FIFA World Cup. Over three years, Globant has worked alongside FIFA to build new features, connected experiences, and a redesigned mobile app for FIFA+.

FIFA and Globant expanded this partnership in November 2025, through a new multi-year agreement covering the FIFA World Cup 2026, the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027, and the eFIFA Finals in Saudi Arabia.

E: Looking ahead, what are your expansion plans for Saudi Arabia over the next two to three years?

FP: Our expansion strategy centers on continued growth across the Kingdom’s gigaprojects, with a particular focus on industries including tourism, hospitality, media, entertainment, and sports. We are seeing tremendous potential in gaming specifically. Globant has a very solid trajectory in this industry, being one of the main developers of AAA games, working with partners like EA Sports, Ubisoft, Epic Games, and 2K Games, among others.

In terms of talent, we are also looking to expand our team and continue investing in building in-Kingdom capability. Our regional office is growing as we are heavily involved in each of the accounts we work on. The infrastructure being built today across venues, leagues, and entertainment destinations is the foundation on which the FIFA World Cup 2034 will run, and we are committed to being embedded in that build throughout this transformative decade.

E: What are the biggest obstacles to building a world-class sports technology ecosystem in Saudi Arabia?

FP: Three primary challenges define the path to building a world-class sports technology ecosystem in the Kingdom.

First, there is the talent and skills gap. Scaling specialized digital, AI, and sports-technology talent locally remains a key challenge across the region, even with strong investment momentum driving demand.

Second is the tension between pace and maturity. Gigaprojects are moving at extraordinary speed, which requires digital and technology foundations, data architecture, system integration, and operational processes to mature just as fast. This creates the classic challenge of building the plane while flying it.

Third is ecosystem integration. Sports technology touches numerous stakeholders, including leagues, venues, broadcasters, guest experience platforms, and ticketing systems. Orchestrating a unified digital experience across all of these is fundamentally a coordination challenge, not just a technology one.

Globant’s approach helps organizations move past these obstacles through integrated, AI-augmented digital transformation rather than point solutions. Intelligence will only work if you feed it the right data, which is why establishing trustworthy datasets and unified governance frameworks is essential. Organizations that get this foundation right can expect their solutions to become more productive and autonomous over time, a vital competitive edge as the region builds toward 2034.