Semi-automatic offside technology will be used at the 2022 World Cup
Semi-automatic offside technology will be used at the 2022 World Cup, promising more accurate and much faster decisions, world football's governing body FIFA said on Friday (1/7/2022). In what could be considered a tremendous growth in officiating, the technology will be able to uncover controversial offside decisions with unimaginable speed and accuracy less than a decade later. Using cameras strategically placed near stadiums, and chips in match balls, FIFA said the technology would greatly help reduce the constant Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decisions on offside calls and reduce the time needed to check. "We have worked with the use of VAR which is more fluid, especially over the line of intervention," Pierluigi Collina, head of FIFA's Refereeing Committee, told a news conference.
We realize that sometimes the length of time to check or review is very long, especially offside." The solution, said FIFA, which is called SAOT, is to bring a futuristic, space-time feel to the game, with viewers being able to see some 3D animations during the game. VAR decisions are displayed on giant screens in the stadium. The technology has been tested at 2 tournaments in the last 7 months and is expected to be approved for the World Cup in Qatar from November 21 to December 18. It will be used throughout the arena in the tournament. It uses 12 special tracking cameras mounted at the base of the stadium roof to track the ball and up to 29 points of information from each player person, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the field. A total of 29 points of information were collected covering all relevant limbs and extremities for making offside decisions. Sensor data Sensors inside the ball transmit information 500 times per second, allowing the detection of the exact spot kick for an offside decision. All this data will allow VAR to make much better decisions, Collina added.
"The tests have been largely successful and we firmly believe that in Qatar we will have invaluable equipment to help referees and assistant referees make the best and most correct decisions on the playing field," he said.
Some people call it an offside robot; no. Referees and assistant referees are still responsible for making decisions on the playing field." By combining limb information and ball tracking, and practicing artificial intelligence, this new technology provides automatic offside alerts to video match officials in the video surgery room when the ball is received by someone. the attacker is in an offside position. Prior to providing data to the referee on the field, the match video official will validate the proposed decision by manually checking the automatically selected kick point and the automatically generated offside line, which is based on the calculated position of the player's limbs.
"This process takes place within seconds and means that offside decisions can be made faster and more accurately," said FIFA, which has used universities in Boston, Melbourne and Zurich to help develop the technology.
"Further tests will be carried out in the coming months to refine the system before global standards are implemented to confirm that the new technology can be used in the world of football," the statement said.