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Top 3 technologies displayed at Qatar’s World Cup
The super smart ball
The official Al Rihla ball by Adidas was equipped with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for the detection of illegal positions. This sensor sends data to the VAR room with details and data on the exact moment the ball is hit with absolute precision.
Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, this data was processed in seconds and sends an alarm to the VAR referees every time it detects an offside, enabling supervisors to review the moment of impact of the ball and the position of the player. This technology was tested in 2021 at the Arab Cup and the Club World Cup.
SAOT – Semi-Automated Offside Technology
After introducing video assistance (VAR) during the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA validated the use of the video in July 2022. Semi-automatic Offside Technology (SAOT).
A system of 12 cameras installed under the roof of the stadium capture the movements of the ball and up to 29 data points (parts of the body) of each player, 50 times per second., to calculate their exact positions on the pitch.
The SAOT was tested in official competitions such as the 2021 Arab Nations Cup and the Club World Cup of the same year. The new technology helped the video refereeing teams make more accurate and reliable decisions in a short time.
FIFA and FIFPRO’s hate speech monitoring service
The monitoring service was programmed to scan recognized hate speech terms on social media during men’s and women’s international tournaments. Once an abusive post is detected, it remained viewable to the person who sent the post, enabling FIFA and FIFPRO to potentially report the account’s activity to the social media company and law enforcement authorities.
According to Sports Business Journal, FIFA used artificial intelligence to track more than 400,000 social media posts sent during the semi-finals and finals of the UEFA Euro 2020 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations men’s tournaments. More than 50% of participating players across the tournaments were found to have received discriminatory abuse on social media with a significant amount originating from accounts located in the player’s home nation, and that homophobic (40%) and racist (38%) comments made up the majority of flagged comments.
