The biggest tournament in International football has been
the stage for technological innovations over the years, with the introduction
of the goal-line technology in Brazil (2014) and the Video Assistant Referee
(VAR) in Russia (2018).
With the introduction of added edge to offside calls with
the help of technology, football is Qatar may well become more objective to
refereeing decisions, if not more accurate.
“Semi-automated offside technology is an evolution of the
VAR systems that have been implemented across the world,” said FIFA President
Gianni Infantino.
“This technology is the culmination of three years of
dedicated research and testing to provide the very best for the teams, players
and fans who will be heading to Qatar later this year, and FIFA is proud of
this work, as we look forward to the world seeing the benefits of
semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup 2022,” he added.
The workflow of semi-automated offside technology and the
connected ball technology has been successfully trialled at numerous test
events and live at FIFA tournaments, including the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 and the
FIFA Club World Cup 2021.
During these matches, the new technology was able to support
the video match officials by helping them to make more accurate and more
reproducible offside decisions in a shorter period of time.
The data collected during online and offline tests has been
analysed and validated by the MIT Sports Lab, with TRACK at Victoria University
scientifically validating the limb-tracking technology. Further insights into
the technological capabilities of such multi-camera tracking systems are being
provided by a research team at ETH Zurich.
More tests will be conducted in the coming months to
fine-tune the system before a global standard is implemented to ensure that the
new technology can be used in the world of football.
“VAR has already had a very positive impact on football and
we can see that the number of major mistakes has already been dramatically
reduced. We expect that semi-automated offside technology can take us a step
further,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee and a
six-time winner of the best referee in the world award.
“We are aware that sometimes the process to check a possible
offside takes too long, especially when the offside incident is very tight.
This is where semi-automated offside technology comes in – to offer faster and
more accurate decisions,” he added.
All details on the semi-automated offside technology set-up
and the connected ball technology will be presented to the teams that have
qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2022 at the Team Workshop in Doha on 4 and 5
July and then shared with the public.
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