As preparations intensify for the Africa Cup of Nations 2025, TECNO has introduced a suite of football-focused AI features designed to reshape the way millions of Africans experience the tournament. The launch, powered by the company’s proprietary Ella AI system, reflects a growing shift in how football is consumed in the digital age, not only in stadiums and living rooms, but through the lenses, feeds and instant reactions that dominate smartphones across the continent.

For many fans, the smartphone has become a second screen, a debate platform, a slow-motion studio and a memory archive. TECNO’s latest tools attempt to formalize that reality, turning everyday devices into active companions capable of interpreting the match as it unfolds.

At the center of the rollout is Ella Match Decoder, an AI engine that reads on-field movement, tactical patterns and key plays in real time. The feature delivers instant, simplified analysis normally reserved for professional commentators, allowing casual viewers to understand momentum shifts, defensive structures or build-up sequences with unusual clarity.

The suite also includes visual recognition capabilities through Ella Snap & Know, while Ella Match Highlight compiles personalized summaries of decisive actions, goals, recoveries, combinations, errors or turning points. Fans gain autonomy over what they revisit and share, independent of official broadcast clips or social-media circulation.

Meanwhile, Ella Star Cam shifts focus from the pitch to the stands. Described by TECNO as a “superstar lens,” the tool is built to capture what defines the AFCON experience for many: the chants, synchronized dances, sharp pivots of excitement and collective euphoria that animate African football culture. The feature anticipates movement and emotion, creating footage that feels closer to immersion than observation.

Together, the tools express TECNO’s broader Aspire Intelligence philosophy, which interprets AI not as a distant technical layer but as an intuitive part of everyday behavior. In the context of football, the company says, that means focusing on the small details that shape how people watch, debate and emotionally process the game, from tactical curiosity to the instinct to document fleeting celebration.

As an Official Partner of the Confederation of African Football, TECNO plans to integrate the technology into its on-ground booths, fan-engagement zones and digital communities throughout the tournament. The company describes the rollout as part of a larger effort to create a more participatory football ecosystem, one where fans help define the narrative rather than merely consume it.

With AFCON 2025 expected to dominate screens and social platforms across the continent, TECNO’s announcement underscores a broader shift: smartphones no longer simply record the atmosphere around the game, they interpret it, contextualize it and shape how it is remembered.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of TECNO