FIFA will use semi-automated technology and artificial intelligence to detect offside in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. The goal, according to the organization, is “to make faster, more accurate and reliable decisions” in the most important football competition of all .
The ball will have an inertial measurement unit (IMU) inside it, which will send a data packet 500 times per second to the video room, making it possible to detect with absolute precision the exact moment when the ball is hit.
In addition, the new technological improvement will be accompanied by 12 cameras installed under the roof of each stadium to capture the movements of the ball and up to 29 data points for each player that will be taken 50 times per second.
With the mixture of tracking data from the extremities of the players and the ball, and through artificial intelligence, the new technology provides an automatic warning to the video room whenever an attacker who was in an offside position receives a ball. the moment when his partner played the ball.
To corroborate your proposal before reporting it to the main referee, the VAR team will manually check the exact moment of the shot provided by the data, as well as the automatically created offside line. In this way, the average duration of decision making can be reduced from the current 70 seconds to a maximum of 25.
“We are working on a more consistent VAR when it comes to the intervention line. In addition, we are aware that sometimes the duration of a reviewer’s controls is too long. We know that when analyzing a complex play the time It flies. These more developed tools need time to find the exact stopping point to define the position of the players,” said Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA Referees Committee, during the presentation of this new technological advance at a conference of virtual press..
“We call it ‘semi-automated offside detection technology’ because the video refereeing teams will continue to monitor the results and need to corroborate the decision. The system constantly tracks and alerts once the ball is received by a player who was in an offside position. offside when the ball was played,” said Johannes Holzmüller, director of the Football Technological Innovation Branch.
To improve communication with fans, after the offside decision has been confirmed by the referee, a replay animation will be created and shown in the stadium and on television.
FIFA’s idea was to start in 2020 with the first tests, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic they had to be postponed until early 2021. It was tested in some FIFA tournaments, such as the Africa Cup and the World Cup Club World Cup.
“We at FIFA are very proud of this work and we look forward to seeing the benefits of this technology at the World Cup. FIFA is determined to harness technological advances to improve football at all levels,” Gianni concluded. Infantino, president of the association.
