By @vgutierrez , Software Engineering Consultant at KWAN · October 2026 · 9 min read

Introduction

An Instagram ad from Barcelona sent me down a rabbit hole. At the bottom I found four sports making their biggest calls with data models: football, Formula 1, American football and volleyball. Each one holds a lesson for any engineering

team.

The ad came from an institute linked to Barcelona, hiring engineers, data scientists and builders — exactly what I do every day. I have supported Barça all my life.

The institute is the Barça Innovation Hub, the club's innovation arm. Its director, Albert Mundet, calls it one of the leading living labs in southern Europe. The club is a data generator that happens to play football.

That raised a bigger question: how much of a match was settled by a data model before the ball rolled? I went looking in three sports I love and one I am very curious about.

Camp Nou, Barcelona.…