A facial recognition system developed by NEC Corp. has been adopted for checking the entry of reporters at Tokyo Stadium and International Stadium Yokohama during the Rugby World Cup that Japan will host next year. Using identification cards for media organizations and face images of reporters registered beforehand, the system will complete authentication instantly, the Tokyo-based company said Monday. The system will allow smoother entry than with visual checks, NEC said. Reporters from all over the world are expected to visit Tokyo Stadium in Chofu, western Tokyo, the venue for the opening game, and International Stadium Yokohama, where the final will take place. This will be the first use of a face recognition system at a Rugby World Cup.

South African-based data scientists at Principa are at it again; this time using predictive analytics and machine learning to foretell the results of the 2018 Football World Cup. The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow in Russia with the host nation taking on Saudi Arabia in Group A. Principa has already predicted the results for all the first games in the first round of matches. The company's data scientists use different algorithms to develop models that can predict the outcome of the matches. Principa notes that as the objective of machine learning is to develop models that can retrain themselves to adapt when exposed to new data, the algorithms will be re-trained with the results of each match to improve the accuracy of the following round's generated prediction. It points out that the purpose is to see how well different predictive analytics techniques used successfully in other areas can outperform the best human-made predictions.

For the sake of brevity, not all the relevant data and code are displayed in this post but can rather be found here. And you can visit the final working web application here. The Rugby World Cup (RWC) is here! With many fans around the world excited to see the action unfold over the next month and a half. If you've never heard of the sport, whatisrugby.com