Google stopped showing live results of Argentine soccer: the possible causes

In recent weeks, however, Many users noticed that this information stopped appearing while the Argentine soccer matches were playing. They were playing. The result was immediate: questions on social networks, complaints and, as often happens, conspiracy theories.

Some messages suggested that Google had deliberately hidden this data, or that the AFA was interested in keeping it hidden. There is no evidence to support this idea and, so far, there is no official explanation from Google or the Professional League about what happened. But you can infer what may be happening.

The first thing to clarify is that Google does not directly produce or control the sports information it shows in its results. The widgets of matches, statistics and scores are fed by external sports data providers, such as Opta, Stats Perform, Sportradar o Gracenotewhich collect and distribute that information in real time.

In recent years, in addition, the way we search for information on Google has changed significantly. Faced with real-time events, such as elections, crises, soccer matches or sports competitions, the search engine prioritizes show direct answers through cards orwidgets“, to prevent the user from having to enter multiple sites. This logic requires stable, structured and validated data.

If these providers do not provide reliable, complete or confirmed information, Google usually chooses to show nothing rather than publish incorrect data. That policy explains why, in some cases, los widgets they appear and in others they disappeareven within the same league.

This point is key to understanding why conspiracy theories are implausible. Google has signed financial agreements with media outlets to pay for journalistic content, as happened in countries like Australia, Canada, France or Spainwithin the framework of copyright regulations and negotiation with publishers. In those cases, the goal was to remunerate the media for the use of news, not to hide it.

Thinking about an agreement to stop showing sports information goes against the historical logic of the company, which bases a good part of its value on offering quick and complete results. Besides, there is no public evidence of legal claimscommercial disputes or rights conflicts linked to Argentine soccer scores.

Although no official confirmationssports data specialists point out several technical factors that could be behind the problem.

On the one hand, frequent changes in schedules and dates in local soccer complicate automation. When a match is listed as “to be confirmed” or undergoes last-minute changes, the systems that feed Google can mark it as unreliable.

On the other hand, the most important leagues in the world have more stable and prioritized data feeds. In competitions like the Premier League or the Champions League, information flows more consistently. Argentine football, on the other hand, does not always have the same level of standardization or real-time updating.

It also influences how the fixture is published: if the data is not available in clear and readable formats for automatic systems, suppliers hesitate and Google directly stops showing the widget live.

A sports journalist stated on social networks that “Google did not renew the payment of the Argentine soccer data right.” This is false: the information about the matches, from when they are played to the “live” of whether it was a corner for a team or there is a goal, or a yellow card, They do not have copyright.

What Google does pay for is the service. companies like Opta and Gracenotewhich provide that data in a structured (ordered) way and then “plugs” it to the top of the results: precisely, other versions indicated that this is what Google did not renew this year and the cause of the absence of these widgets. Although there is no official confirmation, that’s a much more plausible explanation.

The idea of ​​a secret agreement to “hide” parties does not stand up to much analysis. Google shows sports results from leagues, clubs and competitions that affect economic and political interests much larger than those of Argentine soccer. Furthermore, if it were a deliberate decision, the widgets They would never appear, and not intermittently.

There is also a practical point: for a supposed arrangement to work, Google should intervene manually on a global product, designed to operate in an automated way and at scale. It would not only be costly and inefficient, but would imply exceptions that are difficult to sustain over time and visible to anyone who compares the behavior of the search engine between different leagues and countries.

Another element that weakens the conspiracy hypothesis is the lack of clear correlation. The widgets have not disappeared completely or permanently, nor do they coincide with a specific club, date or tournament. In some games they appearin others not, and sometimes they are shown again without any advertisement. That erratic pattern is typical of technical problems, not political or business decisions.

For now, the only certainty is negative: there is no official explanation. But everything indicates that the most probable cause is technical and related to How Argentine soccer data is uploaded, validated and distributedmore than with desk conspiracies.