The Club World Cup will witness a series of changes regarding refereeing, as announced by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)

 

Camera, smart offside, and 8-second decisions... refereeing changes at the Club World Cup

The Club World Cup, which is being held in the United States and opens on Saturday with a match between Egypt's Al Ahly and the American club Inter Miami, is undergoing sweeping changes to refereeing, FIFA announced.

The most notable change is that tournament referees will wear body cameras to view match footage, but only for non-controversial incidents, FIFA's refereeing officials announced on Wednesday.

Match officials at the tournament will wear a small camera that protrudes from their earpieces, capable of generating footage as seen by the referees.

However, while the match broadcast team will be able to provide unique angles of goals and saves, as well as live video and audio close to the pre-match draw, viewers will not be able to see penalty decisions or other controversial moments from the new camera angle.

FIFA Referees Committee Chairman Pierluigi Collina, the Italian, said the goal is to provide a new experience for television viewers.

The former refereeing legend added that the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets the game's laws, has authorized the technology to be tested, and indicated that footage of controversial incidents could be part of a later phase in the future.

He continued: "Let's take things step by step. Right now, this is an experiment. We need to innovate, and the simpler the better. So we've put some rules into place within a protocol. Will we be presenting these images in the future? Maybe we will."

Live images will be broadcast via a dedicated 5G network from the referee to the match broadcast team, according to FIFA's Director of Innovation, Johannes Holzmüller, who noted that the live broadcast will only be available at the six NFL stadiums designated for the tournament.

What Club World Cup fans will be able to see are the video assistant referee (VAR) reviews, as seen by the referees on a screen outside the stadium, which will be broadcast on giant screens in the stadium.