Man Riding Drone Delivers Ball for Portuguese Cup Final

Drones are slowly creeping into more aspects of our daily lives. Soccer fans in Portugal must have realized as much by now, after a man standing on top of a hoverboard/drone hybrid flew around the stadium before delivering the match ball to the referee. The dramatic Man Riding Drone isn’t a headline we’ve used before, but we think it’s warranted in this case.

The result was an opening to the 2017 Portuguese Cup final between Benfica and Vitória de Guimarães that’s as surreal as there’s ever been. See it for yourself in the video below:

As you can see, the match ball was brought in by this mysterious drone rider despite the driving rain. He landed and met the match referee near the halfway line before handing the ball over. Benfica went on to win the final, completing a league and cup double – but that’s clearly not the real story here.

Drones and sports

It’s not the first time a drone has found its way into a high-profile sporting event. You might remember earlier this year during the NBA’s annual Dunk Contest, where the stage was set for an Intel drone to make the headlines. In what must be the first ever drone slam dunk assist, the drone dropped the ball from a height to allow Orlando Magic’s Aaron Gordon to perform a stunt never seen before.

Intel’s swarm technology also gained plenty of coverage in February during the Superbowl halftime show, when hundreds were flown in a light show, providing a backdrop for a memorable Lady Gaga performance.

At the moment these drones are just being used for entertainment. But who knows, with NASA’s development of an drone traffic control system underway, autonomous aerial vehicles might become a lot more common in our airspace in the near future.