Cambridge the first football club to sign players using AI
By using GenieAI, the club can now draft, review and approve legally robust player contracts faster and more affordably just in time for the transfer window closing on September 1.
Rafie Faruq, Co-founder & CEO of GenieAI, believes the move will start a global trend. He says: “Growing up in Cambridge, it’s an absolute pleasure to help the Club sign their players in line with EFL regulations through the use of AI.”
He says the collaboration is more than a legal upgrade – “it’s a strategic move that brings together two local Cambridge success stories.”
Following major investments in its training ground and stadium, Cambridge United continues to operate at Premier League levels of innovation. Behind the scenes, the club handles a wide variety of contracts – from sponsorships and stadium catering to complex multi-party property agreements. Now, GenieAI will automate these workflows by:-
• Generating compliant contracts from approved templates
• Surfacing clause deviations and risks in seconds
• Reducing review cycles from weeks to days
• Ensuring consistency with EFL guidelines while offering flexibility on custom clauses (e.g. bonuses, appearances)
• Instead of coding trees or rule-based templates, soon clubs will be able to use smart questionnaires which operate using information from the club’s own documents. The platform will provide playbook-based options automatically, meaning no more wrestling with Word or waiting on external counsel.
Cambridge United CEO, Alex Tunbridge, says: “If we can keep the same legal quality while saving serious time and money, that’s exactly the kind of smart decision that lets us reinvest in players, facilities and our matchday experience.”
Early pilots of GenieAI showed it slashed legal turnaround time – meaning more time focused on player recruitment and fan engagement. With multiple signings planned ahead of the transfer deadline, United is using AI where it matters most: unlocking operational efficiency without sacrificing legal quality.
While other teams experiment with AI in scouting or performance analysis, Cambridge United is setting a new standard for how football clubs handle legal work. It’s also a milestone moment for the legal tech industry.
Faruq says: “The challenges Cambridge United faces in managing contracts - ensuring accuracy, reducing turnaround times, and maintaining fairness - are shared by organisations everywhere. Genie empowers them to focus on the pitch while we handle the paperwork.”
United will continue rolling out GenieAI across its contract workflows throughout the 2025 season. Live test cases include player signings; sponsorship agreements; commercial supplier contracts.
Results of the programme will be shared with the broader football and legal communities later this year.
GenieAI's autonomous legal agents draft, review and track contracts using a client's pre-approved language, with 97 per cent accuracy on critical issues and 92 per cent counterparty acceptance.
GenieAI claims to reduce legal review time by 4.2 hours per contract and scales from startups to enterprise in more than 40 languages. The company is backed by Google Ventures, Khosla Ventures and 150,000+ businesses globally.