The four-year World Cup has opened in Qatar on November 20. As the highest-level competition of the world’s number one sport, the World Cup has always been blessed with various advanced new technologies, which have improved the competition, fairness, and viewing experience of the game to a higher level.

● Semi-Automated Offside Technology

In this World Cup, the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) was officially applied for the first time. The so-called semi-automatic offside recognition technology is mainly composed of three parts: the in-ball sensor, the special camera and the artificial intelligence system introduced above.

On the one hand, AI referees track the football and each player’s up to 29 data points through 12 dedicated tracking cameras installed under the roof of the stadium, calculating their exact position on the pitch 50 times per second, thereby Use the data to judge the position information of these players’ bodies.

On the flip side, AI referees will be able to detect kicks very precisely by placing an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor inside the match ball, sending the ball data to the video operations room 500 times per second point in time.

By combining body and football tracking data and applying artificial intelligence, the new technology will provide automatic offside alerts like video referees. The video referee validates the proposed decision by manually checking the kick point and the automatically created offside line before informing the on-field referee. This process happens within seconds, meaning referees can make offside calls more quickly and accurately.

After the video referee and the head referee confirm the penalty, the AI referee system will use the exact same position data points to generate a 3D animation detailing the position of the player’s body on the court. This 3D animation will show the offside situation in the best possible view and then made available on the stadium’s big screens and broadcast feed.

● Face Recognition

In order to more accurately judge the number of people in the stadium, control the flow, and at the same time quickly detect any disturbances in the stadium and convey instructions to the on-site security personnel, Qatar has developed a centralized system for this World Cup, deploying 22,000 cameras and AI facial recognition systems, all eight stadiums can be controlled remotely.

On the screen in the central control room, operators can adjust the temperature in the stadium, control doors and passages according to different crowd flows, and accurately judge the number of people in the stadium at any time. The AI facial recognition system can find a lost child in the vast audience; at the same time, facial recognition technology can detect and prevent possible violence or riots in time by analyzing the facial expressions of the audience.

According to Qatar officials, this is the first time the World Cup has used the concept of “connected stadiums”. AI could allow technicians to predict how crowded crowds will be, so they can quickly respond to overcrowding by sharing information with security officials.

● Prediction of the Champion with AI Big Data

In this World Cup, Qatar’s Al Jazeera collected more than 200 indicators of the historical performance of 32 teams and built a model to predict the results of the game — the artificial intelligence robot Kashef.

According to the forecast of the robot Kashef, Argentina, France, Brazil and Germany will enter the quarter-finals of this World Cup. It is predicted that the final teams will be the French team and the Brazilian team, and the final winner will be the Brazilian team.