Preparations for the robot to participate in the 2022 Qatar World Cup referee for the first time have been completed which will be the first time in the history of football's biggest event.
The British "Sun" reported that FIFA President Gianni Infantino is keen to introduce a “semi-automatic” system, namely “robo linesmen” in the World Cup starting in November this year.This technology has been tested in some recent FIFA competitions.The "linesman" is the old name of the assistant referee, which was used until the 1980s. His task is limited to judging offside and out-of-bounds balls.However since the 1994 World Cup in the United States the scope of the referee task has gradually expanded until he actively participated in the penalty shoot-out close to him.The FIFA Referee Committee recently announced the list of referees for the Qatar World Cup but did not announce the “linesman” robot the technology is still waiting for the official approval of FIFA.
According to reports, this “linesman” robot uses 10 cameras to accurately track 29 positioning points on each player's body.The report pointed out that this technology is not a current product but has undergone many experiments starting from the year of the 2019 FIFA World Club Cup final, to the end of last year in Qatar the Arab Cup was held in 4 of the 8 World Cup venues in 4 stadiums and the new FIFA World Club Cup held in the United Arab Emirates this year.
The report added that all the evidence confirmed that the new technology judges offside much faster than the video assistant referee (VAR).Therefore it will wait for approval for the use of the World Cup at the belated annual general meeting of the Council of the International Football Association in Qatar on Monday.Due to Russia's war against Ukraine the conference originally scheduled for March in Zurich has been postponed to this day.
The Sun said that Italian Pierluigi Collina (chairman of the FIFA referee committee) criticized the use of “offside robots” and believed that referees and assistant referees “are still responsible for making decisions on the playing field."He said “This technology will only give them some support allowing them to make faster and more accurate decisions especially when offside judgment is very difficult.”The FIFA Referee Committee trains World Cup referees in continuous training so that they can make their own penalty decisions.
Automatic penalty for offside in the FIFA World Club Cup
The automatic offside penalty through the ”linesman" robot was officially unveiled for the first time at this year's FIFA World Club Cup in the UAE. This official test confirmed that the decision-making speed of the technology far exceeds the speed of the video assistant referee.It can track the position of the ball and the player through modern technology, and inform the video assistant referee of offside behavior within half a second.The position of the ball and the player are the main determinants of offside.
Very simply put article 11 of the rules of football stipulates that a player is in an offside position at the moment his teammate kicks or touches the ball. When the ball bounces to him, whether it is from a post crossbar or opponent he has the behavior of interfering with the game or engaging in a fierce confrontation with the opponent or seizing the opportunity to use the offside position to score a goal he will be punished.
Very simply put article 11 of the rules of football stipulates that a player is in an offside position at the moment his teammate kicks or touches the ball. When the ball bounces to him, whether it is from a post crossbar or opponent he has the behavior of interfering with the game or engaging in a fierce confrontation with the opponent or seizing the opportunity to use the offside position to score a goal he will be punished.
A new era in the referee world
Just as the use of yellow and red cards in matches is a major change in the referee world the automatic offside penalty represents a new era in the referee world after the video assistant referee. It can determine whether there is offside faster and more accurately than the video assistant referee reducing offside penalty errors that may change the outcome of the game.
This data source can have a positive impact on the game by improving (offside) decision-making and improving objectivity” said Johannes Holz Muller director of football technology and innovation at FIFA.
Dr. Patrick Lucey, chief scientist of sports data company Statistics Perform told Forbes: “Fifa is correct in using offside penalty technology.”
Artificial intelligence
He added: "Artificial intelligence is used to give accurate measurements and create offside lines that had to be drawn manually in the past. This eliminates human error, but this does not mean that human factors are completely absent.The referee or assistant referee can use the image created by artificial intelligence to immediately know whether a player is offside. The referee can also decide whether the player interferes with the game based on his own judgment, or decide whether the goal is valid or invalid based on other reasons.”
Dr. Luci explained that this method combines “letting humans do what humans are really good at and letting computers do what computers are really good at.”This is why Collina said this is not an "automatic offside penalty."
The author pointed out that although television broadcasting cannot provide the real-time tracking technology required by the parties to make accurate penalties artificial intelligence can generate real-time statistics based on the use of television broadcasting including the expected number of goals scored and the possible position of the players on the field. This will be achieved through the past 20 years of player data and machine learning algorithms to estimate the position of players who are not on the screen.
The author pointed out that although television broadcasting cannot provide the real-time tracking technology required by the parties to make accurate penalties artificial intelligence can generate real-time statistics based on the use of television broadcasting including the expected number of goals scored and the possible position of the players on the field. This will be achieved through the past 20 years of player data and machine learning algorithms to estimate the position of players who are not on the screen.
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The way this world cup dey go, make e no be virtual stadium oo

Football is gradually turning to virtual, all these things are making football to be boring.