Nov 24, 2022 21:00:00

Everything at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be controlled by “AI”

The FIFA World Cup, a soccer festival held once every four years, will be held in Qatar from November 20th to December 18th, 2022. On November 23rd, the Japanese national soccer team played their first match of the tournament, and got off to a great start

with a come-from-behind victory over the powerful German national team, 2-1 . In this match, there was a scene where Germany's goal was canceled due to an offside decision by VAR near the end of the first half, but The Washington Post said that various technologies including this were controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) at the Qatar tournament. I am reporting.

The tech being used at the World Cup in Qatar - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/21/world-cup-ai/

What Is Semi-Automated Offside Technology? | Socialnomics
https://socialnomics.net/2022/11/21/what-is-semi-automated-offside-technology/

Al Rifra , the official ball of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, will support the referees in making quick and accurate offside decisions by providing accurate ball data to VAR in real time. Inside the ball is a 500Hz inertial measurement unit sensor (IMU) that provides the information needed to detect offside situations that are difficult for human referees to detect.

This sensor-equipped soccer ball will be used in all 64 World Cup matches, feeding information back to the data nerve center. Officials can also use this information to further analyze matches with statistical data.

Additionally, VAR, which was introduced at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, will be further strengthened at the 2022 Qatar tournament. The VAR at the Qatar tournament has adopted a new technology called ``semi-automatic offside technology,'' and by linking with the official ball Al Rifra, it is possible to make offside decisions more accurately and quickly. This system is believed to have supported the referees in the offside decision made in the match between Japan and Germany.

Semi-automatic offside technology uses AI to analyze ``ball position information'' collected by Al Rifra's IMU and ``player position information and limb information'' collected by cameras installed under the stadium roof. to determine offside. Semi-automatic offside technology automatically sends a decision on whether the ball is offside to an operator in

the video operations room every time an attacker on the pitch receives the ball. The video operations room operator is responsible for verifying the system's decisions with human eyes by checking the decisions received before passing them on to the referee on the pitch.

FIFA explains ``semi-automatic offside technology'' to be introduced at the 2022 World Cup - GIGAZINE

In addition, the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which was held in winter for the first time in history due to heat issues, has adopted advanced technology in the cooling system to keep the stadium cool. The cooling system was developed by Professor Saud Abdulaziz Abdul Ghani of Qatar. According to Professor Ghani, the stadium's cooling system is similar to a car's air conditioning system, saying, ``We use the same air conditioning system as a car's, but the stadium's is much larger.''

The stadium combines insulation with a system known as 'targeted or spot cooling', which sucks air through pipes and vents installed in the stadium, cools and filters the air, and then pumps it back into the stands and onto the pitch. It is said that it has become. As the name suggests, spot cooling makes it possible to centrally cool only areas where people are present. Professor Gani also

emphasizes that ``the cooling system also filters the air,'' creating clean air.

Qatar's command and control center will use more than 15,000 cameras to track the movements of spectators during matches, a Qatari official told French media outlet France 24 . The 15,000 cameras will be distributed across all eight stadiums used in the World Cup. Al Jazeera , a satellite television station headquartered in Qatar, has reported that facial recognition technology will be used to track fans at Lusail Stadium , where the World Cup final will be held. There have also been concerns about privacy .

In addition, in order to prevent spectators from invading the pitch at soccer stadiums in Qatar, data points such as ticket sales and where spectators enter are used as data points, and an algorithm is used to predict the behavioral patterns of spectators.

The Alan Turing Institute in the UK has created an algorithm to predict the winner of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. This algorithm is based on an AI called AIrsenal , which was developed in 2018 to play Fantasy Premier League , and uses the results of past World Cup matches and recent international matches for training. The winning country predicted by this algorithm had the highest odds for Brazil (25%), followed by Belgium (18%) and Argentina (15%).