World Cup 2022: Qatar to introduce 'evolutionary' semi-automated offside technology
- Sean Fisher
- 1 July 2022
This winter's World Cup will experiment with new offside technology that provides alerts to match officials through tracking cameras and sensors inside the football.
FIFA have announced that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will introduce new technology designed to aid match officials with offside calls.
The semi-automated offside technology is intended to improve the speed and accuracy of offside calls, by providing match officials with alerts.
The technology involves 12 dedicated tracking cameras that work alongside sensors in the football. Any alerts then provided to match officials will be validated manually before communicated to the on-pitch referee.
The eventual decision will then be communicated with fans both in the stadium and watching on TV, with a 3D animation displayed across the stadium screens.
🆕 FIFA have confirmed that new semi-automated offside technology will be used at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. A support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more accurate & more reproducible offside decisions. pic.twitter.com/PGJUAv7VtH
— Juliet Bawuah (@julietbawuah) July 1, 2022
FIFA president Gianni Infantino explained "Semi-automated offside technology is an evolution of the VAR systems that have been implemented across the world.
"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.
"FIFA is committed to harnessing technology to improve the game of football at all levels, and the use of semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup in 2022 is the clearest possible evidence."
The technology was green-lighted by FIFA after successful tesing at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup and at last year's FIFA Club World Cup.
Former referee and current chair of FIFA referees committee Pierluigi Collina echoed Infantino's words of support by suggesting the technology will speed up the time it takes to make offside decisions.
FIFA have approved new semi-automated offside technology for VAR at the World Cup. We’ll see:
— FUN88 (@fun88eng) July 1, 2022
🕛 Decision times reduced from 75 to 25 seconds
💻 AI technology provide data ten times faster than current format
🏟 Animated images shown on big screens in stadiums#Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/RR2hUxQ2JH
"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. 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.
