FIFA has announced that artificial intelligence will be used to improve the accuracy of semi-automatic offside decisions at next summer's World Cup. This is one of a series of new AI features that will be introduced at the tournament.
Lenovo, the world football governing body's technology partner, will create an “AI-enabled 3D avatar” of every player taking part in the final, allowing existing offside technology to track players “during fast and covert movements” in the match.
In a joint statement with Lenovo, FIFA described the move as “an important advancement in semi-automated offside technology”.
“Players participating in the upcoming global showpiece will be digitally scanned to create accurate 3D models,” the release states. “Each scan takes approximately one second and captures very precise dimensions of body parts, allowing the system to reliably track players even during fast or impaired movements.”
FIFA said the move would improve the understanding of offside decisions for fans in stadiums and TV viewers.
The technology was trialled at last year's Intercontinental Cup, with Flamengo FC and Pyramid FC players being scanned before their December meeting.
FIFA said the test was successful and “demonstrated its ability and readiness to support match officials at the World Cup.”
Semi-Automatic Offside Technology (SAOT) has already been used in two World Cups (Qatar 2022 and the women's tournament in Australia and New Zealand in 2023) and is a VAR tool that automates key elements of the offside decision-making process, with the aim of speeding up the offside decision-making process.
These key elements are the “kick point” (the exact time the ball was played) and the positioning of the defenders and attackers involved. The AI builds a more accurate picture of decisions through multiple cameras that track different body points on each player and a system connected to the match ball.
FIFA also announced that all teams participating in the tournament in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will have access to Lenovo's “Generative AI Knowledge Assistant,” which uses millions of data points to simulate “text, video, graphs, and 3D visualizations.” This tool can be used, for example, to view a team's last 10 corner kicks.
For the first 48-team World Cup, which will see tournament debutants such as Curaçao and Cape Verde take on traditional powerhouses such as Brazil, Germany and France, each country will have access to the tool before and after matches, but not during matches.
“At the highest levels of the game, access to sophisticated analysis often depends on the financial and technical resources at a team's disposal,” FIFA's statement reads. “Football AI Pro aims to address this imbalance, ensuring that all 48 teams competing in global soccer’s premier event will benefit from the same advanced pre- and post-match analysis capabilities.”
Following a successful trial at last summer's Club World Cup, FIFA plans to use AI to stabilize and improve footage from referee cameras at the tournament, which it says will improve transparency and the viewing experience for TV viewers.
