Since its full adoption in international competitions, VAR has become part of the football routine and also of conversations among fans. For many, it has made the sport fairer. For others, it reduced the spontaneity of the game by turning decisive plays into long reviews.

Regardless of opinion, VAR has brought football closer to the data era and opened the door to new technologies. 

The 2026 World Cup started a new phase of technological refereeing, in which video is only one of the sources of information used by referees.

Sensors embedded in the ball, real-time body tracking, computer vision, three-dimensional player models, and faster communication systems form an ecosystem capable of reducing analysis time and increasing the accuracy of decisions.

The goal is to provide objective evidence so that the referee can make decisions faster and with more consistency.

What is semi-automated offside?

The main technological evolution of the 2026 World Cup is in the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) system. The version used in this World Cup represents an evolution of the one presented at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Instead of relying solely on manual image analysis by the VAR, the system combines different data sources in real-time:

• cameras positioned around the stadium;

• three-dimensional player tracking;

• sensor installed in the ball;

• computer vision algorithms;

• artificial intelligence for play reconstruction.

The cameras continuously monitor the movement of the athletes and identify 29 anatomical points for each player, including shoulders, knees, ankles, hips, and other body parts that can define an offside. These points are updated dozens of times per second, allowing the exact position of each athlete to be digitally reconstructed throughout the entire match. 

The result is a system that is much more accurate than the traditional frame-by-frame analysis performed only by video.

The intelligence hidden inside the ball

One of the biggest innovations of the 2026 World Cup is literally inside the ball. The Trionda, developed by Adidas in partnership with the German company Kinexon, incorporates a motion sensor known as an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit).

This small device records information approximately 500 times per second, monitoring the acceleration, direction, and movement changes of the ball in three dimensions.

The primary function of this sensor is to determine with extreme precision the so-called kick point: the exact instant a player touches the ball during a pass. This detail is crucial in offside situations.

In the traditional model, the VAR had to visually identify this moment from images captured by cameras. Since each frame has a time interval between them, small differences can alter the analyzed positioning.

With the connected ball, this instant is determined by the sensor's own data, reducing ambiguities and speeding up reviews.

The same technology also helps confirm deflections, handballs, and other plays where identifying the first contact with the ball makes a difference.

How FIFA is reducing review times

One of the most recurring criticisms of VAR has always been the time spent reviewing certain plays.

Therefore, much of the innovations implemented by FIFA seek not only to increase precision but also to reduce the time needed to reach a decision.

At the 2026 World Cup, offside technology began sending automatic alerts to the referees' communication system when it identifies clear offside situations. In many cases, the assistant receives the warning practically in real-time, without having to wait for the entire traditional VAR analysis.

In simpler plays, this eliminates intermediate steps and significantly decreases the interval between the play and the ruling.

However, in interpretative situations (such as participation in the play, interference with opponents, or potential system failures), the decision still depends on human evaluation.

The "digital twin" of the players

Another improvement barely noticed by the public is the creation of extremely detailed digital models of the athletes.

Before the competition, each player undergoes a three-dimensional scan that generates a virtual representation with real body measurements.

These models allow the system to identify with greater accuracy where the shoulder ends, where the arm begins, or which part of the body can legally participate in a play.

In addition to increasing technical precision, these models also make the animations shown in broadcasts truer to what actually happened on the pitch, making it easier for the public to understand the decisions.

In practice, the traditional generic drawing used in reviews tends to give way to representations much closer to the real athlete.

The decision remains human

Despite the growing number of sensors and algorithms, FIFA has reinforced an important principle: technology supports refereeing, but it does not replace the referee.

Even when the system automatically identifies an offside or receives information from the connected ball, there is a mandatory validation step. This happens because not all decisions in football are objective.

Situations such as interference with the goalkeeper's line of sight, challenges for the ball, intention in a handball, or active involvement in a play still require interpretation.

In this sense, artificial intelligence acts more as a decision support system than as the entity responsible for the final judgment.

While sensors answer "what happened," it is up to the referee to decide "what that event means" within the rules of the game.

How far should technology go in football?

The 2026 World Cup shows that refereeing has definitively entered the data era.

Video, which until a few years ago represented the main support tool for the referee, is now part of a much larger set of technologies that includes sensors, computer vision, three-dimensional models, and artificial intelligence.

At the same time, FIFA seems to be adopting a cautious strategy. Instead of delegating decisions to algorithms, the governing body uses these technologies to reduce uncertainties, speed up processes, and offer more elements for human analysis.

This balance is perhaps the main challenge for refereeing in the coming years. The more accurate systems become, the higher the expectation that every decision is objective. But football remains a sport where context, interpretation, and application of the rules still make a difference.

Technology can measure distances of a few centimeters, identify the exact instant of a touch on the ball, and digitally reconstruct every movement of the players. Even so, the responsibility for the decision remains with those on the pitch. Perhaps this is the most important aspect of technological evolution in football: not to replace the referee, but to offer tools so that they make fewer mistakes, without removing the human emotion from the game that has always been part of it.

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