adidas announces that the Official Match Ball of the FIFA World Cup™ 2022 will feature new connected ball technology, which will be used to enhance the VAR system by providing an unprecedented level of data and information to match officials for making faster and more accurate decisions on the biggest stage of all.
Following its reveal in March this year, Al Rihla will be the first World Cup Official Match Ball to feature this innovation, providing precise ball data, which will be made available to Video Match Officials in real-time. Combined with player position data and by applying artificial intelligence, the innovative connected ball technology contributes to FIFA’s semi-automated offside technology and offers Video Assistant Referees instantaneous information to help optimize decision making.
This new technology developed in close collaboration with FIFA and KINEXON, leaders in state-of-the-art sensor network and edge computing, enables the Video Match Officials to review live data for the first time by automatically providing very accurate information, 500 times per second, on when a player has touched the ball.
It will help inform offside situations as well as assist in detecting unclear touches thereby ultimately improving the quality and speed of VAR decision-making process. The Official Match Ball with the connected ball technology will not be commercialized or available in retail.