FIFA will determine offside at the 2022 World Cup with cameras and ball sensor

FIFA will use tracking software to determine offsides at the World Cup later this year. That software uses 12 tracking cameras in stadiums and 29 data points on 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 for determining offside.” The ball also contains an inertial measurement unit. This sends data 500 times per second to the video room, to determine the moment 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 an offside. Before the video room signals the referee, they check what the software has seen. According to FIFA, this happens within a few seconds, allowing for offside to be determined faster and more accurately.

As soon as the referee and video room confirm that there was an offside situation, 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 able to use it at the World Cup in Qatar, from November. Over the coming months, FIFA aims to perfect the technology and then come up with a global standard so that the technology can be used everywhere.