World football governing body, FIFA, has announced that a semi-automated offside technology will be used at this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
In a statement on its official website, FIFA disclosed that the new technology will offer a support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more accurate and more reproducible offside decisions on the biggest stage of all.
The successful use of VAR technology at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, spurred the football governing body to harness the full potential of technology in football and further enhance VAR.
The new technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch.
The 29 collected data points include all limbs and extremities that are relevant for making offside calls.
The official match ball for Qatar 2022, “Adidas Al Rihla”, will provide a further vital element for the detection of tight offside incidents as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor will be placed inside the ball.
The sensor, positioned in the centre of the ball, sends ball data to the video operation room 500 times per second, allowing a very precise detection of the kick point.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.
It will be the first ever to be held in the Arab world, the second held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. (FIFA.com)
