The 2022 World Cup will feature an updated VAR (video assistant referee) system known as semi-automatic offside technology (SAOT), according to a statement by international football governing body FIFA. SAOT will replace FIFA’s old (and still controversial) VAR system, which was first used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The new system consists of 12 stadium cameras that will track the position of both the ball and each player, including 29 different data points on each player’s limbs. On top of that, a ball equipped with a motion sensor will be used in every match, providing live data on a player’s position at the time of the kick.
FIFA believes SOAT will help referees make faster and more accurate decisions in offside decisions. “VAR has already had a very positive impact on football and we can see that the number of major errors has already decreased significantly. We expect semi-automatic offside technology to take us one step further,” said Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee.
According to ESPN, the new system will reduce the average time it takes to make an offside decision with VAR from 70 seconds to 25 seconds. The old VAR system required the offside lines to be drawn manually and the hit point calculated. FIFA officials claim that SOAT will automatically select both the offside line and the point of impact in seconds, using both ball data and limb tracking data from cameras. Then this decision will be manually approved by human authorities. After each decision is reached, a 3D animation visualizing the offside decision will be shown to the audience.
Introducing an entirely new system of virtual referees at a global event like the 2022 World Cup in Qatar may seem risky. But it’s worth remembering that a more basic version of SOAT was tested at the Arab Cup in Qatar last year and the FIFA Club World Cup this year.
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