Technology came to football to stay. FIFA has unveiled a new system that will help referees.
There is no turning back: technology is here to stay in football and help referees. Just as VAR appeared in 2018, now it’s the turn of “semi-automatic offside”which will premiere at the World Cup in Qatar, as announced by FIFA.
It is a tool that was implemented during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and now LaLiga plans to implement it in the 2023-2024 season.
At Goal.com we explain how this tool works:
Semi-automatic offside in Qatar 2022: what it is, how it works, when and where it will be applied
What is this initiative about?
Johanmes Holzmüller, FIFA’s Deputy Director of Technology, was in charge of presenting the project. The target: the system will help judges make faster, more accurate and more reliable decisions. And what’s more, it will improve communication with the fans ever since the play is recreated on the stadium screens with 3D animation.
How does it work?
FIFA gave details of this new technology through a statement:
“Twelve cameras installed under the roof of the stadium record the movements of the ball and up to 29 data points for each player, 50 times per second, to calculate their exact positions on the pitch. The 29 datasets collected include the limbs and body parts taken into account to signal offside.
The official ball of Qatar 2022, Al Rihla by adidas, will contain a decisive element for the detection of questionable illegal positions: a unit of inertia measurement (IMU). This sensor, which is located in the center of the ball, sends a data packet to the video room 500 times per second, enabling it to determine with absolute precision when the ball is hit.
Combining player limb and ball data and using artificial intelligence, the new technology automatically alerts the video room when an attacker who was in an off-leg position receives a ball at the same time as their partner played the ball. To check their proposal before reporting it to the Chief Referee, the Video Referee team manually checks the exact moment of the kick given by the data, as well as the automatically created offside line based on the player’s limb positions calculated by the system. . Because it only takes a few seconds, faster and more accurate decisions can be made.
Once the Video Referee Team and the Chief Referee confirm the decision, the same positional data used to make the decision generates a 3D animation that perfectly represents the position of the player’s body parts at the moment of contact with the ball. Showcasing an off-law point of view from the best angles, this animation will be broadcast on video scoreboards and distributed to FIFA’s broadcast partners to inform all viewers as clearly and transparently as possible.”
The process takes 25 seconds
When there is a goal, an orange flag appears automatically, indicating that the game is almost offside. From that moment on, the videos check everything and immediately communicate this to the referees. The average of the whole operation for this system was 70 seconds and now it will be 25 seconds.
Word from Johannes Holzmüller, director of the Football Technological Innovation Branch
“The semi-automatic offside detection technology will be configured with twelve cameras, and the official match ball will have technology linked across all 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums. The new systems will provide referee teams with real-time video alerts using artificial intelligence. We call it ‘ semi-automatic offside detection technology” as the video referees will continue to monitor the results and must confirm the proposed decision before informing the Chief Referee. How this data is used to create a three-dimensional animation that will be broadcast to spectators in stadiums and television viewers, fans will very soon be able to see an exact picture of the offside situation.”
The word of Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA
“During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, FIFA had the courage to use VAR technology on the world’s largest stage. Since then, video refereeing has become a resounding success. The semi-automatic offside detection technology Gameplay is an evolution of VAR systems that have been implemented around the world.This system is the culmination of three years of research and testing by FIFA and our partners, with the aim of bringing the best of the best to teams, players and fans who will be traveling to Qatar at the end of the year. At FIFA, we are very proud of this work and look forward to the world seeing the benefits of this technology at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. FIFA is determined to take advantage of technological advancements to bring football at all levels and the best demonstration possible. among these is the use of semi-automated technology for detecting offside in the field. World Cup 2022”.
Source: Goal