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The FIFA World Cup 2022 is just a few months away. Since offsides are becoming more complicated and harder to detect, FIFA announced that a new semi-automated offside technology will be used in this year’s FIFA World Cup 2022 starting on November 21.
This new technology is intended to be a “support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials” so that offside calls will be executed faster and with more accuracy. This new technology is supposedly a part of The Vision 2020-23 in which “FIFA would strive to harness the full potential of technology in football and further enhance VAR”. So what does this new technology entail?
The revolutionary support tool consists of twelve dedicated tracking cameras that are placed underneath the stadium roof so that the movements of the ball can be tracked from any spot. Additionally, fifty times per second each player will be tracked via twenty-nine data points which will then calculate the players’ position exactly by taking into consideration the “limbs and extremities that are relevant” hence leading to more efficient offside calls by the referees.
As if this was not sufficient, the official Adidas match ball for Qatar 2022, Al Rihla (“the journey” in Arabic) will be equipped with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor inside the center of the ball to send data five hundred times per second to the video operation room “allowing a very precise detection of the kick point.” @iMiaSanMia gives us an understanding of what this technology could look like:
Semi automated offside technology will be used at World Cup in Qatar. The technology provides accurate and faster decisions thanks to a sensor in the ball and 12 cameras tracking 29 data points on each player 50 times a second pic.twitter.com/iTc9a7e7jx
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) July 1, 2022
More transparency will surely be a much-appreciated aspect when it comes to referee decisions so that the degree of ambiguity can be reduced as much as possible. Die Mannschaft under Hansi Flick would probably also welcome this idea. Whether this technology could be used at the club level in the Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga, etc., remains unknown at this point. Who knows? Maybe this support tool will help Bayern Munich’s competitors to catch up to the Stern des Südens.
“All Eyez on Me” by 2Pac should be the official hymn to introduce this technology on November 21. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
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