Referees wearing body cameras and an upgraded offside detection system will be among the headline innovations at this year’s Club World Cup in the United States, Fifa said on Friday.
For the first time at a Fifa tournament, match officials will wear body cameras, with selected footage broadcast live to audiences.
A new, advanced version of semi-automated offside technology — combining Artificial Intelligence, multiple cameras, and ball sensors — will be deployed to speed up decision-making while maintaining VAR oversight for marginal calls.
"However, for challenging offside scenarios, the video assistant referee will still validate the information provided by the system before the decision is taken," Fifa said in a statement.
The tournament, which expands to 32 teams this year, will serve as a major testing ground for both systems, the governing body said.