Manchester City Players Race Through Virtual Abu Dhabi Circuit in Groundbreaking AR Campaign With Etihad Airways

Manchester City Football Club and principal partner Etihad Airways have launched “Lights Out,” an augmented reality activation that recreates 2024/25 season highlights through player-tracking technology within a virtual Yas Marina Circuit environment, positioning the collaboration as the latest extension of their long-term digital partnership ahead of the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The campaign employs skeletal tracking technology to analyze thousands of data points from match actions, enabling 3D player avatars to re-enact on-pitch movements within digitally created environments representing Etihad destinations. The core creative features Erling Haaland, Rayan Aït-Nouri, and Nico O’Reilly racing through a virtual representation of the Yas Marina Circuit, merging motorsport aesthetics with football performance data in an immersive XR framework that combines augmented highlights with match footage.

Skeletal tracking technology transforms match data into 3D avatars, reimagining football performances within virtual motorsport environments for immersive fan engagement.

Player integration extends beyond the circuit-based activation, with the broader “Beyond Borders” content series showcasing Omar Marmoush‘s Premier League Goal of the Season and İlkay Gündoğan’s overhead kick recreated in non-stadium settings. Key goals, deft finishes, and signature celebrations—including Haaland’s characteristic “robot” celebration—are precisely mapped from in-match tracking data to retain authenticity while shifting visual context to fantastical locations. This establishes what organizers characterize as an innovative benchmark for sports marketing execution.

The “Lights Out” title references Formula 1’s race start sequence, reinforcing thematic alignment with Grand Prix weekend while the virtual circuit environment incorporates interactive AR set-pieces that merge motorsport speed narratives with football action. The activation’s timing maximizes cross-sport visibility during the Grand Prix event window, extending promotional reach across Manchester City and Etihad owned social channels to engage international fanbases. The initiative follows Beyond Borders campaign earlier this year, representing the latest digital collaboration between the two partners. Manchester City, founded in 1894, operates from the Etihad Campus with a stadium capacity of 53,500 and maintains strategic focus on innovation in fan engagement.

Campaign environments visually represent Etihad’s newest destinations, including Krabi, Hanoi, Sumatra/Medan, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi, integrating tourism imagery with performance highlights to advance dual brand narratives linking football, Formula 1, and global travel. The implementation positions augmented reality as a strategic mechanism for enhancing fan interaction beyond traditional stadium experiences, leveraging data-driven player movements within unified virtual worlds to create scalable digital engagement assets. Similar to how Soli technology powers motion detection in smart home devices, the campaign uses advanced sensing capabilities to create responsive and immersive user experiences.