Sanfrecce Hiroshima implements AI facial recognition for player photo tagging

Sanfrecce Hiroshima has launched a full-scale AI facial recognition system to automatically tag player photos within its digital asset management (DAM) system, CIERTO. Provided by Visual Processing Japan and supported by TONIQ, the technology identifies players and coaches in photographs and automatically assigns their names as metadata.

The system can process new uploads within minutes to 24 hours and is capable of identifying multiple individuals within a single frame. To ensure accuracy, the AI is designed to only apply tags when it has a high level of confidence, preventing incorrect identifications of spectators or other players. This automation aims to reduce the time staff spend manually searching for specific images from minutes to seconds, facilitating faster content distribution for social media, news outlets, and club marketing.