A mini drone and wired leaders: innovations put to the test
27 October 2025 – The DFL media product, greatly enhanced once again for the 2025-26 season, delivers a rich and multifaceted football experience to fans. Especially during so-called Tentpole Matches – high-profile games –, special features let fans move closer to the game, such as Pitch Flash Interviews directly after the final whistle, the RefCam showing the activities on the pitch from the referee’s perspective, or the brief interviews during the half-time interval in Bundesliga 2.
Mini drone brings stadium atmosphere to the living room
The new remote-controlled mini camera drone is a feature not limited to tentpole matches: right before and after selected games as well as during the halftime break, it whirs through the arena on seemingly daring flight paths, capturing the mood from an exceptional perspective. Despite the fact that it delivers a full HD live feed in near-real time, it weighs less than 249 grams – a statutory requirement for being allowed to fly such a device within a stadium and close to people.
The mini drone is controlled by a professional pilot, supported by a “spotter” who monitors the air space, secures the take-off and landing corridor and keeps an eye on the battery charge since the tiny battery lasts only nine minutes. With its wide-angle camera, the drone enables viewers at home to witness the stadium atmosphere very realistically, showing the scene from entirely new angles.
The wireless signal from the mini drone is incorporated in the base signal and may be used by the media partners for own production purposes. During the Hamburg Derby on Matchday 2 of this season, as well as during the match between VfL Wolfsburg and 1. FC Köln on Matchday 3, viewers were able to follow the drone’s breathtaking free flight. Numerous enquiries from media partners are proof that there is plenty of media interest in this service.
Chatting with club VIPs during matches
To involve key figures from the football world directly in broadcasts, the DFL now provides clubs with the option to wire up their leaders with microphones. This is voluntary and entirely up to each club. When VfB Stuttgart celebrated the centennial of the famous Brustring, the red band on their players’ jerseys, this was a great opportunity for a TV premiere of the new offer: VfB chairman Alexander Wehrle and sport director Fabian Wohlgemuth took their seats on the grandstand with microphones fitted. During the game, the Sky commentator asked the men’s opinions on the ongoing match while a dedicated camera stayed focused on both. Several clips of this brief interview that had been released by the club were used in post-production by both the DFL and Sky.
This provides football enthusiasts with exclusive insights from the executives in charge of the clubs who don’t step into the spotlight nearly as frequently as the players.
With these and many more new features, the DFL lets Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 fans get a better understanding of the activities surrounding their favourite sport while embedding the actual football match in a greater context that may be an eye-opener for many.