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Fifa plans to create AI-enabled 3D avatars of every player at the 2026 World Cup to enhance the tournament’s semi-automated offside technology.<\/b><\/p>\n
This will mean creating a digital scan of all 1,248 players in the 26-man squads of the 48 teams.<\/p>\n
Each player will enter a chamber to be scanned, a process that should take just one second and only needs to be done once during their pre-tournament photo shoot.<\/p>\n
Fifa says the scan “captures highly accurate body-part dimensions” to make more accurate offside decisions.<\/p>\n
It expects this to mean tournament officials will be able to “track players reliably during fast or obstructed movements” and says final decisions will be “displayed more realistically and in a more engaging way”.<\/p>\n
There was controversy in the Premier League earlier this season when a Newcastle goal against Manchester City was allowed to stand.<\/p>\n
Ruben Dias appeared to be jumping<\/a> in the semi-automated offside graphic. This did not match the television pictures of the game.<\/p>\n Fifa hopes that by taking accurate scans of each player it can improve how these decisions are shown to supporters.<\/p>\n The technology was tested in Fifa’s Intercontinental Cup, with Flamengo and Pyramids FC players scanned ahead of their match in December.<\/p>\n Fifa announced last month it was testing new technology which can determine if the ball goes out of play<\/a> before a goal is scored. It has also developed ‘real-time 3D recreation’ to make line-of-sight offside decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n