FIFA announced on Friday that semi-automated offside technology will be used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to enable referees to make faster, more accurate offside decisions at the world's biggest football gala.
"At the FIFA World Cup in 2018, FIFA took the brave step to use Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology. Semi-automated offside technology is an evolution of the VAR systems that have been implemented across the world," the world football governing body president Gianni Infantino noted, saying that SA OT will provide the very best for the teams, players and fans who will be heading to Qatar in November this year.
According to the FIFA statement, the SA OT system 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, while the sensor positioned in the center of the tournament's official match ball sends data 500 times per second, allowing a very precise detection of the kick point.
The data collected by cameras and the ball sensor will be processed by artificial intelligence within a few seconds to check the offside situation. Once an offside position is detected, the SA OT system will provide an automated offside alert to the video match officials team, reports Xingu.
After the decision has been confirmed by the VAR and the referee on the pitch, the SA OT will then generate a 3D animation to be displayed on the giant screens in the stadium and on TV, which gives the best possible perspectives for an offside situation.
FIFA Director of Football Technology & Innovation Johannes Holzmuller said that the new technology has been successfully trialed at numerous test events, including the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2021.
"During the tests, the average VAR offside check time has reduced from 70 seconds to 25 seconds, and the 3D animation could improve better communications with fans," he revealed in the online press conference.
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 will have a very valuable support tool to help referees and assistant referees make the best and most correct decision on the field of play," Pierogi Collin, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said of the technology.
Collin pointed out that the SA OT is still limited and noted that the referees and the assistant referees are still responsible for the decision on the field of play," Collin added.
"Sometimes the length of checks of reviews is definitely too long," Collin said, acknowledging delays disrupt the flow of games.
"For (VAR officials) time flies, but for the rest of coaches, for players, for spectators it's completely different."
The same 3D animations of offside calls that VAR will use should then be available to broadcasters and shown on stadium screens, likely during the next stop in play.
Collin is enthusiastic about the technology, less so about the often-used description of "robot referees."
"I understand that sometimes this is very good for headlines, but this is not the case," said the Italian official, defending the key human element of decision-making in soccer.
Collin also agreed that improved technology will not end soccer's love of controversy and debating key incidents.
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