AI in offside decision making. This is an aspect which can not be avoided by FIFA as well. The next World Cup is in 2026 and as announced by FIFA it will be the most high-tech event in the history of the game of football. This technology will be put to use by all the officials including the referees and linesmen during the games to make the game fairer, faster and much more transparent to every spectator present whether they are in the stadium or viewing the game from their homes.
For the first time, AI will be put to use to monitor decisions concerning offside; the FIFA semi-automatic offside system will be in action. These features were already in play in previous games, however the extent has been increased for this World Cup. Traditional 2D graphics which illustrated the offside positions will now be replaced with full 3D models which will be highly more realistic and can easily be identified by a fan from afar.
In order to facilitate this the 1248 players playing for the 48 national teams will be individually scanned and all their bodily measurements recorded by the AI system. The AI will perfectly represent every player as they will display the exact body shape and posture as that of each player from moment to moment in a game of football, this could be impossible from human observation in few cases, making the artificial intelligence a definite advantage.
However FIFA has insisted that artificial intelligence will only provide evidence; the final call on whether a player is offside or not will be made by the referee. This has been insisted on by Pierluigi Collina the President of FIFA’s Referees Committee; and a legendary referee in his own right. Collina states that artificial intelligence is a helping tool not a final judge on any issue which involves human interpretation.
The ball also has an internal sensor and this will relay data of when exactly the ball was struck, and will help in the AI aided decision making.
The AI also helps in analysing footage from the referee’s body cameras, which present various incidents from a ground level view and aid in clarifying some disputes during the games.
The World Cup in 2026 starts on June 11, and ends on July 19; to be held in USA, Canada and Mexico.
