What technology will be used in in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup?

Adidas unveiled "Al Rihla," the official match ball of the 2022 World Cup, earlier this year. Al Rihla, which translates to "the journey" in Arabic, is a FIFA World Cup ball that flies faster than any other ball produced during the tournament's 92-year history and is made to enable the fastest game speeds. At its core, the new ball has the most recent Adidas Suspension System, which includes a motion sensor that records every touch made during a play at a rate of 500 times per second. Throughout the competition, the motion sensor inside the ball will allow for the collection of very precise ball movement data, which will then be instantly relayed to video match officials. This data is then used by Video Assistant Referees (VAR) for instantaneous information to help optimize decision-making. 

 

 Cooling Technology

Qatar has also been working on solutions off the field to help athletes and spectators stay cool in the hot desert region, where temperatures are expected to range from 21 to 26 degrees Celsius. Seven of the eight stadiums were constructed using Advanced Cooling Tech, a ground-breaking innovation that would maintain a cool environment within the stadium. The device operates by sending chilled water through a pipeline from an energy facility located close to the stadium. When it does, chilly air is forced onto the playing field and sitting sections for spectators. To make the systems as green as feasible, insulation and spot cooling is used.

3D Animation

The information produced by the cameras and the ball will be used to automatically produce 3D animations to show the exact position of the players at the precise instant that they were offside once the VAR judgment has been made. The location of the player's limbs when the ball was played can be seen on the video. This 3D animation, which will be exhibited on stadium screens and made accessible to FIFA's broadcast partners to show spectators in the clearest manner possible, will depict an offside position from the finest conceivable angles. 

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VAR (Video Assistant Referee) Technology 

VAR technology was first used at the 2018 Russian World Cup, and because of its success, it was afterward implemented in all of the top European leagues. The FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will feature a new semi-automated offside technology (SAOT), which was unveiled by FIFA this year. The new system tracks the ball with 12 dedicated tracking cameras that are positioned beneath the stadium roofs. It also tracks up to 29 data points on each player, which are tracked 50 times per second to determine their precise location on the field. All limbs and extremities that are important for determining offside are represented in the 29 data points that were gathered. 

In the video operation room, whenever the ball is received by an attacker who was in an offside position, this data is combined with artificial intelligence to automatically send an offside alert to the video match officials. The video match officials verify the proposed decision before informing the on-field referee by examining the automatically chosen kick point and the automatically generated offside line, which are based on the calculated positions of the players' limbs. Offside decisions are made quicker and more precisely as a result of this happening in a matter of seconds.

"FIFA is committed to harnessing technology to improve the game of football at all levels," said FIFA President Gianni Infantino. As new technologies are created, the game will only get better. The football industry offers a variety of IT and tech jobs, including those for IT support technicians, developers, analysts, and data engineers.