World Cup 2022: FIFA announces update ahead of Qatar

FIFA announced on Friday that the semi-automatic offside technology will be used at the November to December 2022 World Cup in Qatar to make video assistant decisions faster and more reliable.

The system will be utilized in all 64 games in Qatar, according to the football world governing body.

Both the Club World Cup and the Arab Cup in February tested the new offside technology.

The positions of the players are recorded with an accuracy that exceeds that of the past thanks to a signal embedded in the ball and a dozen cameras that track the players’ every move.

A video assistant will review the information and immediately relay it to the referee on the field.

“The match officials are still involved in the decision-making process, as the technology gives an answer only when a player is in an offside position.

Pierluigi Collina, head of FIFA’s referees, said in a statement: “In other words, the assessment of interfering with an opponent remains a match official’s responsibility.”

The technology is hoped to improve measurements as well as speed up video assistant reviews for offside.

The new system could reduce the time to 25 seconds from the current average of 70 seconds.

“I have heard a lot about ‘robot referees.’ I understand sometimes this is very good for headlines, but this is not the case,” Collina said.

Decisions will be communicated to stadium fans via video screens.