Yes, all puns intended. Robots are already taking jobs, will they soon replace athletes? This is a fun idea regardless.
I can see it now, "All your footballs are belong to us."
A football tournament played by teams of robots has kicked off in Germany.
The 10th annual RoboCup, being held in Bremen, will see more than 400 teams of robots dribbling, tackling and shooting in an effort to become world champions.
Machines compete in 11 leagues including those designed for humanoid and four-legged robots.
The organizers of the tournament hope that in 2050 the winners of the RoboCup will be able to beat the human World Cup champions.
"RoboCup 2006 is the first step towards a vision," said Minoru Asada, president of the RoboCup Federation. "This vision includes the development of a humanoid robot team of eleven players, which can win against a human soccer world champion team."