Here, we share an article published in the Rheinische Post, one of the most popular regional newspapers in North Rhine-Westphalia. 

Alex Worobjow trains the F1 youth team in Walbeck. He wants to help the club improve its image with his company. 

SV Walbeck's most successful Facebook post by far dates to 9 December 2024 and was about their B youth team's victory in the final of the Futsal Cup in the Kleve district. The post has since been viewed around 2,500 times. "It's the most successful post we've ever sent out," said Michael Roosen, SV Walbeck's chairman since November. A short video (reel) shared by the club on Instagram shows that there is more to come. The short film from the locker room of the "Apaches" (3rd men's team) has been viewed more than 6700 times. 

The man behind the video is Alex Worobjow, managing director of Promwad, which has an office in Essen. Worobjow is from Belarus. He was a professional player in his youth until an injury ended his career at 18. He now lives with his family in Walbeck and coaches his son's local F1 team. His daughter also plays for SV Walbeck in the U13 girls' team. 

Worobjow and his company have been sponsoring SV Walbeck since last year. Among other things, the company develops software solutions. For the Munich-based company B1 SmartTV, it developed the app "SportWorld", which aims to bring together fans, athletes, broadcasters, competitions and leagues. Worobjow wanted to apply this unifying idea to amateur sport. "Normally, we work on projects for the Bundesliga, the World Cup and international companies. But as a coach at Walbeck, I know that the real magic often happens on local pitches and in clubs like Walbeck, Veert, Kapellen and others", says Worobjow. "Football is not just a sport. Football is a place where community and values are cultivated". 

In Walbeck alone, around 40 volunteer coaches are on the pitch every week, giving their time, energy and passion to the sport. Worobjow wants to honour this commitment. With 1,200 members, SV Walbeck is the largest sports club in Geldern. Almost every weekend, the club attracts large crowds for football matches and events, as well as for table tennis or one of its popular sports programmes. "We would like to show people what goes on here", says chairman Michael Roosen. But resources are limited. The time to present the organisation to the outside world is also limited. "We can't afford a professional PR and media team. Three volunteers have been doing this for us for about three years". They write articles, prepare the match day of the week, introduce the teams, maintain the website and much more. And they do it all in their spare time. Artificial intelligence could make their work easier in the future. 

"SV Walbeck has two AI cameras that are used occasionally. But this is mainly due to the initiative of individual enthusiastic coaches and is far from standard", he says. Technology is complex and expensive. "We aim to develop a solution that amateur clubs can afford, making capturing and sharing the positive moments of club life easier. AI can't do everything but can make many things easier". For example, the app Worobjow and his team developed can generate content from fans' photos and videos - such as goal highlights or a short story for Facebook and Instagram, like this video from the "Apaches" locker room. The app can use footage from the mobile phone cameras of coaches, parents and spectators. The AI also adds music and text to the finished film. 

"We are currently in the development phase, training the neural network to recognise certain events", says Worobjow. For example, the app recognises when children are in the picture. It recognises the ball or the goals and then edits the footage into a film. Later, the app will be made available to the club's media team to take some of the work off the shoulders of the volunteers. "This way, the best moments can be captured without expensive equipment and shared with the community", says Worobjow. We want to use the app to make life better in the region. 

The app, which will make it easier for SV Walbeck to present itself to the outside world, is still in development. A demo version should be ready by September 2025. If successful, the app will be made available to other regional amateur clubs. The plan is to make the app available for iOS and Android devices.