World Autonomous Football Association
Football played by autonomous minds.
WAFA League is working toward a competition in which 22 virtual players observe, decide and cooperate on their own. No one steers them during the match, and no one writes the result in advance. Every match is computed, not scripted.
The vision
Inventing a video is not the same as playing a match.
Anyone can now generate a convincing football clip. That is not what WAFA League proposes. The difference decides whether a result can be trusted.
Generated or scripted video
- Someone decides what happens
- Images are produced to show it
- The "result" is whatever was written
Cannot be verified. Cannot be a sporting competition.
A computed match
- 22 players decide, each from what it can observe
- A simulator applies physics and the laws of the game
- The result emerges and is sealed in a record
- Only then are images produced from the record
Designed to be repeatable, auditable and impossible to change after the fact.
Our first approved architectural decision: simulate first, seal the match record second, produce the visuals third. A precomputed match is acceptable; a scripted match is not.
How it works
Twenty-two decision-makers. One shared pitch.
In the design, each virtual player runs the same loop about ten times per second. It sees the match from its own position, chooses what it intends to do, and lets the simulator decide what actually happens.
Observe
Positions, the ball, the score, the clock and its own team's instructions. Nothing it could not see.
Decide
Choose an intention: offer, mark, press, pass or shoot.
Act
Send that intention to the simulator, which applies physics and the laws of the game.
React
The world changes. Look again, and decide again.
A team manager, a tactical decision for every player, and a skill layer.
Applies all actions at once, moves the ball and enforces the rules.
The sealed record of everything that happened.
Produces images from the record; it can never change the result.
Cameras, replays and presentation. A long-term aspiration.
This describes the planned design documented in the Engineering Blueprint. None of these systems is running today.
Proven vs. planned
We separate what exists from what we are aiming for.
Completed
- Research and technical feasibility assessment of candidate engines, architecture and risks.
- Engineering Blueprint with a staged plan, acceptance criteria and engineering gates.
- An interactive concept presentation. Its movements are written scenarios, not a live AI.
Not built yet
- The autonomous AI Brain.
- Any 11v11 autonomous match, in 2D or 3D.
- Realistic animated players and broadcast-quality footage. Photorealism is an aspiration, not a promise.
Development roadmap
One verified gate at a time.
Progress is measured by verified results, not by calendar. Each stage starts only after the previous one is proven and separately approved.
- 00Completed
Research & technical blueprint
Architecture, candidate engines, risk register and staged delivery plan documented.
- 01ANext gate
Isolated engineering environment
A separate, secure machine where future tests can be repeated, before any third-party code runs.
- 01BPlanned
Validate a simulation engine
Controlled tests of a candidate engine: stability, legal match states, reproducibility.
- 02Planned
Build the autonomous AI Brain
Player decisions, team tactics and actions, proven in drills before full teams.
- 03Planned
First 11v11 autonomous match
Aim: an approximately five-minute autonomous match in 2D, with goalkeepers and a verifiable record.
- 04+Later, gated
Full matches and 3D feasibility
Longer matches and realistic animation, only if earlier evidence supports it.
Live status of every stage is published in the Partner Project Hub.
Partner Project Hub
Follow every step, in plain English.
Daily development updates, the milestone roadmap, challenges and the decisions waiting for approval, published from our project records after every development session.
- Daily development journal
- Milestone roadmap and status
- Challenges and how we address them
- Decisions awaiting partner approval
Contact
Talk to WAFA League.
General enquiries
For questions about the project, write to us and we will reply by email.
Explore further
See how the system is designed to work, chapter by chapter.