The FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar will go down in history for its many “firsts”. The first time an Arab country hosts the World Cup, the first time the tournament is held in the winter/the middle of the European football season, and the first time stadiums were built in close proximity. However, the most important first is the level of technology that has been integrated and automated into the entire entity of the World Cup, setting the bar high for future World Cups to follow.

What’s new in Qatar 2022? 

Although there has been technology involved in the past World Cups, no competition currently can compete with what Qatar has been able to build in for 2022. Starting with how the stadiums were built—all stadiums were engineered to contain advanced cooling systems for regulating temperatures under each seat. The stadiums were also built with thousands of cameras for tracking the movements of players, balls, and fans throughout the games.

On top of that, each stadium was designed to be equipped with the top level of technology for managing gameplay. Gameplay-specific technology has been the biggest addition to this world cup, stepping up the level of play and the personal experiences had for all who partake in the World Cup games. The gameplay technologies that specifically have been implemented at each stadium include semi-automated offside technology, video assistant referee (VAR), goal-line technology, and sensors that are in the actual football.

Breaking down the technology behind the game

Since it is not intuitive what all those different technologies are, here is some more info to break down the gameplay technologies. 

Semi-automated offside technology is a tool for video-analyzing officials and on-field officials to make faster offside decisions. The way it works is that there are 12 tracking cameras mounted on the stadium roof that can track the ball and up to 29 data points of each player on the field to calculate their exact position on the pitch. This includes all the player's limbs that would be relevant for making offside calls. This process of checking the offside happens throughout the game and can be decided in seconds. Ultimately helping the on-field officials make decisions faster and more accurately without delaying gameplay too long.

Source: FIFA

Video assistant referee (VAR) did already exist at the 2018 world cup, but since then has been implemented and perfected in hundreds of competitions worldwide. There is a team of trained VAR officials that work in a video operation room, who support the on-field referees and provide them with the necessary information depending on the situation of the game. 

The VAR officials are constantly reviewing every angle of footage while the game is being played so no call would be missed by human error on the field. 

Source: FIFA

Like VAR, goal-line technology has existed in previous World Cups but has been improved over time, especially in Qatar, with cameras built into the stadium that work specifically for this purpose. This technology was created to help determine whether the whole of a ball has crossed the goal line, constitute whether the ball is out of bounds, and if there was a goal within the goal box. The way it works is that there are 14 high-speed cameras that are mounted on the roof that look at the end lines from various angles. This data from the cameras is then used to create a 3D model to show the referees and fans what exactly happened as the ball did or did not cross the goal line. This process happens in seconds so that the head referee can respond immediately in the middle of a game.

Source: Wikipedia

Finally, one of the newest additions to the 2022 World Cup tech roster is the soccer ball or the football. The ball has been innovated to contain an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor and an ultra-wideband sensor (UWB) that is built into the center of the ball and is more accurate than GPS or Bluetooth. The combination of the sensors allows for the ball to give precise data on where the ball is at any point and also how the ball has moved through space. The ball also provides information on limb-tracking, ball-tracking, and kick-tracking, which provides this information 500 times per second to the video operation team. This ball can give an automated offside alert to the video match officials when the ball is offside at any moment in play. This gives the VAR operation team even more information to work with when deciding to review plays as well as collecting statistics on players’ performances.

Source: The Sun

G2 and sports technology

Clearly, there has been a lot of innovation that has taken place in this World Cup, and G2’s data seems to reflect that as well. G2 currently has eight categories under the Sports Software umbrella that all have been trending upwards in terms of category pageviews as well as reviews submitted over the course of 2022. Specifically, the categories of Sports League Management, Sports Performance Analytics, and Athletic Competition Management, have risen in popularity, particularly around the latter months of the year, which coincides with the timing of various sports leagues starting their pre-season or season. 

There has been a steady growth rate averaging about 20% over 12 months, which may be attributed to leagues and teams realizing the usefulness of technology in the sports world. Technology allows leagues and teams to track stats, have video replay, and access various other tools that can improve the performance of an individual athlete or team. Since, ultimately, the goal for athletes is to win and be at the top of the competition, technology can be an excellent asset to get there. 

Blowing the final whistle

As the World Cup continues underway at this point, it is clear that innovation is the theme of this competition, but one must not forget about the true spirit of the sport. For as much technology as there may be for this gigantic tournament, the players selected to represent their national teams are doing whatever they can to put their team first. 

Sports technology benefits all those involved—the players, staff, referees, and fans. Although without human athletes innovating the game by putting their best skills forward to win, the World Cup would have much less meaning. So as the world gets ready to see their national team or their team of choice play in these final matches, we should appreciate how far we have come in terms of tech. However, more importantly, we should all get swept up in the passion and competition of “The Beautiful Game” which will continue to inspire and innovate for generations to come.

Edited by Jigmee Bhutia