Have you heard of the robotic assistant referees? it may finally come to full utilization at the Qatar world cup
FIFA has finalised plans to have Robot Linesmen assist referees in officiating at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. According to the football governing body, the technical trials have worked.
Ever since the introduction of the goal line tech, there has been growing call by some quarters to FIFA and other regional football governing bodies to "techify" football.
See here is the thing, robotic assistant referees is good but what would happen to our assistant referees?.
This will not be the first time of using the robo ref in official cup or challenge. But definitely it would be at the biggest FIFA and football cup - World Cup at Qatar. The gulf nation happens to be hosting the most world expensive sports tournament in history, spending about$500 billion.
Trials of the system, which uses 10 cameras to track 29 body points of each player, took place in the Club World Cup won by Liverpool and the Arab Cup held in four of Doha’s eight World Cup stadiums.
And with all the signs that the technology does work, bringing far quicker offside calls than under the current VAR line-led system, world chiefs are due to give a positive update at Monday’s delayed annual general meeting of the law-making International FA Board.
The meeting is being held in Qatar, after the initial March date in Zurich was postponed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Fifa is understood to be ready to state there are no impediments to the full introduction of the technology.
But a final decision will be taken by FIFA after a full analysis of the data from the trials.
Robots not a Threat
Fifa referee chief, former Italian whistler Pierluigi Collina, bristles at the use of the term "robot offside".
He pointed out: "The referees and assistants are still responsible for the decision on the field of play.
"The technology only gives them valued support to make more accurate and quicker decisions, particularly when the offside decision is very tight and difficult."
But the cameras do give instant information to allow assistant VAR offside operators to give information to the on-field officials in a matter of seconds.