Semi-automatic offside will debut in the World Cup in Qatar

Today FIFA announced through an official statement that semi-automatic offside, which was already tested and used during the last Arab Cup and the 2021 Club World Cup, will be introduced for the first time in the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Limb-tracking technology is a technology that will help reduce errors and speed up on-field decisions by referees in one of the most controversial situations in football. The new technology will use 12 tracked cameras mounted under the stadium roof to track the ball, and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the field. The 29 data points collected include all limbs and extremities that are relevant to marking offside.

The FIFA release states that "Al Rihla, the official adidas ball for Qatar 2022, will offer an additional vital element for offside detection as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor will be placed inside the ball. This sensor, placed in the center of the ball, sends data from the ball to the video operation room 500 times per second, allowing very accurate detection of where it was kicked. After the decision has been confirmed by video officials and the referee on the field, the same data points on positioning used to make the decision are generated in a 3D animation that perfectly illustrates the position of the player's limbs at the time the ball was played. This 3D animation, which will always show the best possible perspective for an offside situation, will then be shown on giant screens at the stadium and made available to FIFA's television partners to inform all viewers in the clearest way possible."