“FIFA” is testing new technology to catch offside players

World football’s governing body FIFA will test semi-automated offside technology at the Arab Cup 2021, which begins in Qatar today.

The artificial intelligence (AI) technology tracks players’ limbs to detect if they’re in an offside position and sends an alert to the video assistant referee (VAR).

FIFA officials hope it will provide a more accurate judgement of whether an attacking player was offside when they had the ball passed to them – particularly for very tight calls.

If successful, automated offside technology could be used at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar in November next year.

Each of the six stadiums involved in the Arab Cup have cameras installed under the roof, which collect data on up to 29 data points on every player’s body 50 times per second.

These data points spread from the tips of a player’s feet, to their arms and the top of their head.

Using footage from the cameras, AI will track when exactly a pass was made and what position an attacking player was in relative to the defending players.

It will determine if any part of the player was offside in half a second and then send an alert to the VAR operator, who can validate and confirm the information and notify the referee.

The tests of semi-automated offside technology at FIFA Arab Cup 2021 represent ‘the most important trial so far’, said FIFA chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina.

‘Technology is very important and useful in both the pre-match preparation and the decision-making process during matches,’ Collina said.

‘In an offside incident, the decision is made after having analysed not only the players’ position but also, their involvement in the move.

Daily Mail