The use of technology in football has yielded mixed results over the past decade. Goal line technology, for example, has proved a success, while VAR has received criticism over how it slows the game down and still features margins of error.
In order to address the latter, FIFA is looking to test limb tracking technology in the upcoming Arab Cup.
As for how the system would work, Football Technology & Innovation director at FIFA, Johannes Holzmüller, unpacked what was planned for the aforementioned Arab Cup, which kicks off today.
“We will have a camera set-up installed under the roof of each stadium. The limb tracking data extracted from the video will be sent to the operations rooms and the calculated offside line and detected kick-point is provided to the replay operator in almost real-time,” says Holzmüller.
“The replay operator then has the opportunity to show it immediately to the VAR. At the FIFA Arab Cup the Assistant VAR at a dedicated offside station can immediately validate and confirm the information,” he added.
Semi-automated offside technology explained ahead of FIFA Arab Cup. Pierluigi Collina and Johannes Holzmüller explain the advancement of the tests to date. This technology will be tested at the FIFA Arab Cup 2021™ #FIFArabCup #FootballTechnology
📽 https://t.co/A6Bef8f25A pic.twitter.com/A63xwvYZTC
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) November 29, 2021
If the test proves successful, we could see the limb tracking system implemented at the Qatar World Cup next year. If that does happen, it would not be the first time that FIFA has experimented with technology at this showpiece event, with VAR introduced in Russia in 2018.
At that tournament, VAR was involved in several overturned goals, but luckily did not spark any controversy over the decisions. The technology’s application in the Premier League has proved for more divisive, however, with offside in particular being a bone of contention and seeing a handful of rule revisals as a result.
With the stakes for the World Cup being fairly significant, especially given the ire that Qatar has come under for treatment of workers building the stadiums, a controversial application of technology is the last thing it needs.
Either way, it will be interesting to see just how accurate the limb tracking is for the Arab Cup over the next couple of weeks.
