The World Cup in Qatar will not only be atypical due to the region and season in which it will take place; also, for all the technology that will be used. Last Friday, FIFA announced that all players in the finals will be able to see their performance data in an app : FIFA Player , specially designed by the governing body.
This is an app that was created with player feedback, via FIFPro , and the data will be synced with action videos to allow quicker assessment of key moments.
This information will not be available to the general public; rather, these data and metrics will be available to the players themselves, the clubs, and a few other select third parties.
“This player-centric development is based on direct feedback from players and is another great example of how FIFA is using technology to its fullest potential by enhancing the football experience for key players on the pitch,” said Johannes. Holzmueller, Director of Football Technology and Innovation at FIFA.
However, it should be noted that, currently, all professional soccer leagues monitor each of their players through the Electronic Performance Tracking System (EPTS), which was presented in 2017 and is based on wearables that carry all athletes to collect information on their performance.
Technology also plays in the World Cup
For example, at the World Cup in Germany in 2006, intercoms for the referees were approved, with which the communication between the assistant judges and the central referee was improved.
On the other hand, in the 2014 Brazil edition, the use of the Automatic Goal Detection system (DAG), also known as Hawk Eye, was approved to confirm when a ball has fully entered the goal. Its use would also have been fundamental in the 2010 World Cup, in the confrontation between Germany and England, since a goal by Frank Lampard, which would have meant the English tie, was annulled because the referee did not appreciate that the ball after hitting the the crossbar bounced into the goal.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, one of the most important innovations was the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a tool designed to help refereeing.
On the other hand, FIFA also announced that 12 cameras will be added to track the movements of the ball and up to 29 data points of each of the players, in order to calculate, through AI, their positions on the field to more accurate detection of misplacement.
