What is FIFA’s Semi­ Automated Offside Technology(SAOT)? | Football World Cup 2022

Relevance of FIFA’s SAOT Technology for UPSC

• FIFA Football World Cup 2022  is the biggest tournament of the World’s most popular sport i.e. football. So, everything which is important there in Qatar, like ‘FIFA’s SAOT Technology’, is also important here for preparing UPSC CSE.
•  From the UPSC Prelims perspective only, this is an important international sporting event to crack MCQs.
• From UPSC mains perspective also, FIFA World Cup 2022 and related events are crucial.
• FIFA’s Semi­ Automated Offside Technology(SAOT) also covers GS Paper 3: IT & Computers, Indigenization of Technology, Technology Missions, Scientific Innovations & Discoveries.

Also Read:

FIFA World Cup 2022: All Details for UPSC

Why FIFA’s Semi­ Automated Offside Technology(SAOT) in news? 

• FIFA has been using semi-automated offside technology(SAOT), for the first time, at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar which started on 21 November.
• SAOT offering a support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more accurate and more reproducible offside decisions on the biggest stage of all.

Why FIFA using semi-automated offside technology(SAOT)?

• Following the successful use of VAR technology at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, FIFA President Gianni Infantino declared in The Vision 2020-23 that FIFA would strive to harness the full potential of technology in football and further enhance VAR.

• Know about VAR Technology

  • The VAR technology supports the decision-making process of the referee in four game-changing situations: goals and offences leading up to a goal, penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty, direct red card incidents, and mistaken identity.

What is Offside Rule in Football?

• Offside basically means that players from a team won’t be allowed to camp in front of their opponent’s box.
• Imagine if one of the players from a team sets off and stays in the attacking third of their, the opposition defence will have to keep changing their positions to curb the attacker.
• Offside is a method to the game fair for both sides. It basically means that an attacker has to stay behind the last defender when a pass is made to him.
• For example, when X plays a ball to Y, Y must stay behind the last defender Z, or else the third official will blow the whistle for offside.
• Also, the offside stands only when the attacker is in the opposition team’s half, not in their own half.

What is Semi-automated offside technology(SAOT) and how it works?

• Semi-automated offside technology is a support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more reproducible and more accurate offside decisions.
• The new SAOT technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch.
• The 29 collected data points include all limbs and extremities that are relevant for making offside calls.
• Al Rihla, adidas’ official match ball for Qatar 2022, will provide a further vital element for the detection of tight offside incidents as an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor will be placed inside the ball.
• This sensor, positioned in the centre of the ball, sends ball data to the video operation room 500 times per second, allowing a very precise detection of the kick point.
• So, by combining the limb- and ball-tracking data and applying artificial intelligence, the new technology provides an automated offside alert to the video match officials inside the video operation room whenever the ball is received by an attacker who was in an offside position at the moment the ball was played by a team-mate.

• How SAOT actually works?

  • Before informing the on-field referee, the video match officials validate the proposed decision by manually checking the automatically selected kick point and the automatically created offside line, which is based on the calculated positions of the players’ limbs.
  • This process happens within a few seconds and means that offside decisions can be made faster and more accurately.
  • After the decision has been confirmed by the referee on the pitch, the exact same positional data points that were used to make the decision are then generated into a 3D animation that perfectly details the position of the players’ limbs at the moment the ball was played.
  • This 3D animation, which will always show the best possible perspectives for an offside situation, will then be shown on the giant screens in the stadium and will also be made available to FIFA’s broadcast partners to inform all spectators in the clearest possible way.

Is the new SAOT system accurate?

• During the three-year testing phase, semi-automated offside technology is currently the most accurate offside support system available to video match officials.
• In addition, the system provides consistency in the placement of offside lines, especially in situations where the shoulder or top part of the arm determines the offside line.

Also Read:

FIFA World Cup Winners List(1930-2018): A Detailed list with Interesting Facts for UPSC

FAQs

Q. What is FIFA’s SAOT technology?

Ans. Semi-automated offside technology is a support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more reproducible and more accurate offside decisions.

Q. Where did FIFA use SAOT Technology for the first time?

Ans, FIFA has been using semi-automated offside technology(SAOT), for the first time, at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar which started on 21 November.

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