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Some people are so outraged by VAR and the delays it causes that they want to get rid of it completely. FIFA is not listed on that page. In fact, they are looking at innovations that leverage technology even more deeply. Penalties, fouls, handballs, goalkeeper interference, and even AI to assist with referee announcements are all being considered.
“I was watching a German Cup match (when VAR was not used) and Dortmund scored and a player was offside. The text commentary said, 'If VAR had been used, this goal would not have counted. ''' said Nicholas Evans – FIFA's leading technology problem solver. Athletic. “You have to start thinking, what are we doing here? Why are we allowing something like that to happen?”
There is no question in his mind that VAR and the continued integration of technology into football makes sense.
“The vision that I have and that FIFA has is that it's better than what came before,” he says. “It's a safety net and it's never going to be perfect, but it takes the stress off the referee at the moment they make a decision.”
Mr. Evans is Head of Football Research and Standards within FIFA's Technology Innovation Team, responsible for implementing solutions to solve problems in the game.what he is talking about The Athletic Looking down the pitch at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, I witnessed the most embarrassing VAR error in the Premier League this season, with Liverpool's Luis Diaz being denied a legitimate goal. The VAR room was caught up in a communication rift when an incorrect on-field decision for offside was not overturned.
(Marcus Jamison Pond — JamPondPhotography)
“When something like that happens at a World Cup or a build-up event, we will learn from it and look at what we can do to improve,” Evans says. “There's a growing disconnect between what's happening on the pitch and the fans.”
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the body responsible for officiating English football, has enlisted the help of air traffic controllers and pilots to improve communication clarity, but has also introduced enhanced offside techniques. may also have supported the process. Semi-Automatic Offside Technology (SAOT) is used in FIFA, UEFA competitions and Serie A. This means that there is no need to draw or activate a line; instead, a virtual line is generated. Skeletal data for multiple players to accurately identify his points and ball tracking shows exactly when the ball was kicked.
“I know the Premier League is considering it. They watch our tournament, they know the facts and it's important how they interpret it for their own purposes. ,” says Evans.
Publicly, the Premier League has not committed to introducing SAOT any time soon.
“I don't think this will improve the accuracy of decision-making,” the league's chief football officer Tony Scholes said last month. “What that does is it shortens the decision-making time. It's very important in that respect.” Tests are being carried out, but England's first team “will ask clubs to make a decision later this year”. There are only tentative plans to do so, but “that's not clear at this point,” Scholes said. The earliest votes from Premier League clubs will take place will be at this summer's shareholder meeting, with the situation expected to be tough ahead of next season.
So why wait? “From a fan perspective, I completely understand the argument,” Evans said, confirming that both La Liga and Bundesliga are also considering merging SAOT. “He needs to figure out how to justify it to his audience. He needs to explain to the fans what he's going to do about these five-minute reviews. Give referees the tools to get around that. I think you can avoid them by doing so.”
Evans acknowledges that behind-the-scenes factors such as broadcaster logistics, training and input play a key role. He also believes there is a “legitimate conversation to have” around ensuring that investment in technology does not undervalue the amount umpires are paid. If we're going to spend another £5m on technology while our teams are still earning thousands of dollars per game, we need to talk about human development first. ”
(Marcus Jamison Pond — JamPondPhotography)
FIFA is also pursuing research and development in other areas. Evans said that “the sheer amount of data from a particular game is amazing” and could accelerate growth and improve accuracy. Traditional performance data capture via devices commonly worn by players allows analysis of approximately 600,000 data points per team. Skeletal tracking, which is now used in some referee decisions, pushes that number to 172 million. “We're getting more and more information, and that becomes data, and that becomes insight,” said Evans, who spoke on the topic at an international sports conference in March.
So where is this going? And how will it benefit the game experience for officials and fans?
“One of the biggest error rates we see is in corner kick and goal kick matches, which can have a big impact, especially at the end of the match,” Evans says. “With connected ball technology, we know exactly who made the last touch.”
Part of this conversation is whether the ball went out of bounds during the build-up to the goal. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta questioned whether the ball went out of play or whether Anthony Gordon was fouled in the build-up to the winning goal after the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle in November. When he didn't have a clear angle to see what was going on, he called the referee “disgraceful.” .
At the 2022 World Cup, Japan benefited from VAR decisions in their final group match against Spain, which was done using enhanced camera images and more angles. FIFA is currently conducting further experiments combining ball tracking with different cameras to obtain clearer images. “We put the camera on the line or close enough and use the data as a model that there is no question that the ball is out,” Evans says. “This will give us information directly to the referee and allow us to easily convey this information to the fans through the second his screen experience to ensure transparency. That part of the journey could happen sooner rather than later.” there is.”
FIFA is also eyeing “synthetic feeds” that enable first-person views and data integration to aid in-match decision-making, such as whether an offside player is blocking the goalkeeper's view. PGMOL chairman Howard Webb has admitted that Nathan Ake's goal against Manchester City and Fulham in September should not have been conceded because Manuel Akanji interfered with Bernd Leno, who was offside.
“The technology is good enough that you can actually use a synthetic animation feed from the goalkeeper's perspective to make referee decisions from a first-person perspective,” Evans said. “Once you play it through, you can make an objective evaluation.”
Part of the research is adding visual guides in the form of hallways to aid decision-making and inform fans. “These are these kinds of use cases that are very practical for overcoming some of the subjective decisions,” Evans says.
“Handball is one example, where it's relatively easy to detect whether the ball touches the hand or not,” he says, referring to another area of extensive research.
During the World Cup, the ball sensor outlined whether Cristiano Ronaldo touched the ball with his head before it went in against Uruguay. Evans believes it can be used for all factors related to handball, such as whether the ball hit another part of the body before hitting the hand.
Helping referees understand whether a tackle is careless or reckless and therefore warrants a yellow or red is also being studied through data modeling. An example is watching a tackle from behind. “We could measure angles very easily. How high were the feet? Was the player accelerating or decelerating? Is the player actively moving? Skeletal data With , all of that is possible,” says Evans, who sees no barriers to further analysis.
“How do you quantify a foul? There's no such thing as a foul. It's handball, grasping, pushing, stumbling, kicking, anything that can be quantified. Am I tripping you up?” Well, we're just looking at contact between two limbs.”
Officials explaining decisions to spectators in stadiums and on television was also seen at the recent Women's World Cup, and will continue at all FIFA competitions. “Personally, I believe this is an intermediate step towards broader possibilities,” Evans says. FIFA understands there are hurdles to overcome to make all VAR conversations public at all times, but the aim is to provide more detailed on-field explanations, including AI, for a global audience. to provide real-time translation.
(Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
Although not very advanced technically, there was a suggestion that a blue card could be used to indicate that a player would be sent to the Sin Box. Evans was surprised by the backlash. “Everything was completely blown out of proportion in the sense that, 'Oh, FIFA is crazy and wants blue cards,'” he says. “Maybe someone just said there might be a visual mechanism to distinguish between yellow and red.”
The sin bin trial continues at grassroots level, in line with the International Football Association Board (IFAB) plan. The current signal is a yellow card, and the referee uses both hands to signal the temporary exit area.
Evans said “negative media backlash” was having an impact. It was deprived of legitimacy by being ridiculed. Forget if it's blue, it doesn't matter. ”
Any plans would need full approval from the IFAB, guardians of the competition's rules, but Evans said a step forward in trials could come during junior tournaments such as the Under-17 World Cup. I feel that there is not. He believes it is unlikely to be implemented for the next Senior World Cup in 2026, given the decision-making timeline.
(Top photo: Jewel Samad/AFP, Getty Images)
