BVB and Vodafone recreate first-ever Bundesliga goal: “Absolute highlight!” | OneFootball

A little over 63 years ago – on 24 August 1963 – BVB striker Timo Konietzka scored the very first goal in Bundesliga history with Borussia Dortmund’s 1-0 against Werder Bremen, finding the net in the very first minute of the match. To the regret of the entire Bundesliga family, no video footage of this historic moment had existed until now. That is changing now – thanks to a so far unique collaboration between BVB and Vodafone.

“Timo Konietzka was one of a kind and a great player. His goal against Werder Bremen was of course particularly well suited to a project like this. The fact that there was no footage at all made the undertaking very challenging. For many fans who are very tradition-conscious – and that certainly applies at BVB, but also in Bremen – this AI reconstruction is an absolute highlight. We are very grateful to Vodafone for taking on this challenging task with great commitment and implementing it together with us using state-of-the-art technology. Everyone can look forward to it,” says BVB President Hans-Joachim Watzke.

Reconstructed from eyewitness memories, media reports and data points

A meticulous research process served as the basis for turning the data points into moving images. Over several months, teams from BVB and Vodafone analyzed archive material and spoke with eyewitnesses such as Gerd Kolbe (now BVB’s chief historian and at the time a fan in the stadium), Günther Konietzka (the goalscorer’s brother) and Eugen Kraas (chairman of the largest BVB fan club, “Oeventrop-Freienohl”), in order to incorporate their personal memories into this innovative recreation of a Bundesliga milestone. Reconstruction of the events of 1963 then began together with leading AI production company PROMPTR. The AI expert team used several AI models for data analysis and image generation.

“Together with Borussia Dortmund, we interviewed eyewitnesses, evaluated media reports from the time and collected various data points. Our AI experts faithfully reconstructed those moments using all of this data and the help of several AI models. After 63 years, artificial intelligence is bringing a piece of German football history to life. The first Bundesliga goal, which until now existed only in the memories of a few eyewitnesses, can now be seen by all football fans in moving images,” says Vodafone Germany CEO Marcel de Groot.

In addition, during the creation of “The Unseen Goal,” typical movement models were developed from recordings of other BVB and Werder Bremen matches, the players’ tactical ideas and behavior in comparable situations were determined, and the goal along with the preceding passage of play was even reenacted with BVB’s U19 team. In collaboration with fan experts, the stadium atmosphere of 1963 was also recreated, and several weather models were used to derive authentic conditions from the first Bundesliga matchday.

“I had the great fortune to be there in Bremen on 24 August 1963. Referee Ott kicked off at exactly 4:59 p.m. Everyone was sitting in high spirits behind the BVB goal, but everything turned out differently than expected: Borussia Dortmund scored the first goal,” recalls eyewitness Gerd Kolbe, former BVB press spokesman and now BVB’s chief historian. “From today’s perspective, the fact that not a single photographic record of the goal was made is absolutely unimaginable. I’m incredibly pleased that BVB and Vodafone succeeded in bringing this staging to life. In doing so, they have closed a historical gap in German football history.”

Here’s where you can watch the first goal in Bundesliga history

On Saturday, the AI-reconstructed first Bundesliga goal will be shown on TV screens to football fans across Germany for the first time. The realistically recreated goal is part of the documentary “The Unseen Goal,” which will premiere at the BORUSSEUM, Borussia Dortmund’s club museum. Afterwards, the full documentary will also be available free of charge on the YouTube channels of BVB and Vodafone, and will also air exclusively on linear TV on Sky Sport News.

BVB fans in the stadium will also see the footage on the stadium screens before the season opener against Hamburger SV (29/08, 6:30 p.m.). The film of the goal will then be preserved as a permanent exhibit in the German Football Museum.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.