FIFA will use cameras and ball sensor to determine offside at World Cup 2022

FIFA will use tracking software to determine offside at the World Cup later this year. That software uses 12 tracking cameras in stadiums and 29 data points at players. In addition, there is a sensor in the ball to determine its location.

The 12 cameras are mounted under the roof of stadiums and track the ball and 29 data points of each player 50 times per second. Those 29 data points include all limbs and extremities “relevant to determining offside.” The ball also contains an inertial measurement unit. This sends data to the video room 500 times per second to determine when the ball is kicked.

FIFA’s system combines all this data with artificial intelligence and can send an offside alert to the video room as soon as the system detects offside. Before the video room signals the referee, they check what the software has seen. According to FIFA, this happens within a few seconds, so that offside can be determined faster and more accurately.

As soon as the referee and video room confirm that there was an offside, the software processes all the information into a 3D animation that is shown on the screens in the stadium. Those images can also be shown to TV viewers, so that as many people as possible can see why there was offside. FIFA show with a video how the offside tracking software works.

The software was first announced as a test last November and has since been used in multiple championships. FIFA now considers the technology reliable enough to be used at the World Cup in Qatar, starting in November. Over the coming months, FIFA wants to perfect the technology and then come up with a global standard so that the technology can be used everywhere.