China hosted its first fully autonomous robot football in Beijing on June 28, 2025, as the 2025 RoBoLeague Robot Football Tournament took place, marking China’s first-ever fully autonomous 3-on-3 AI robot football competition and the first trial match for the upcoming 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games.
While China’s men’s soccer team hasn’t generated much excitement in recent years, humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing based more on the AI technology involved than any athletic prowess shown (AP News).
Four teams of humanoid robots competed in the matches. The robots, equipped with advanced visual sensors, operated autonomously without human intervention or supervision. They were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility.
Despite some robots needing to be carried off the field on stretchers, the experience was realistic and realism-enhancing.
THU Robotics team from Tsinghua University emerged as winners, with second place going to China Agricultural University’s Mountain Sea team. The Blaze team from Beijing Information Science and Technology University and the Power team from the Future Laboratory, Tsinghua University shared third place.
Shangyicheng Group’s chairman, Bian Yuansong, explains that RoBoLeague is a testing ground for advanced technologies like bipedal dynamic balancing and multi-agent collaborative decision-making.
The event validates the football segment of future humanoid robot games and enhances embodied robot sensitivity. The technologies showcased during the competition will be translated into real-world applications, benefiting industrial production and everyday life.
The group plans to develop robot competition IPs, including a robot half-marathon and RoBoLeague, to promote humanoid robotics in various scenarios.
Watch video here:
