Smart ball, or technology in football

The 2024 European Championship is loudly called almost the most technologically advanced football tournament in history. The reason is simple: to speed up the game and minimize referee errors, the organizers used artificial intelligence, as well as other modern developments.

Fussball League

First of all, we can mention Fussballliebe – a smart ball developed by Adidas (translated from German it means “love for football”). She equipped it with a special 500Hz sensor, located in the center of the ball via a suspension system. The sensor sends data to the video operating room 500 times per second, transmitting the exact position of the ball. It does not affect the force of the strike or the trajectory of the ball.

The sensor is powered by a rechargeable battery that charges via induction, the same type of wireless power transfer used in smartphones. The Fussballliebe has a polyurethane skin with “micro- and macrotextures” and a 20-piece outer panel for improved aerodynamics. Beautiful long-range goals (like the one scored against Georgia from almost 30 meters by young Turkish player Arda Güler) prove that the ball is really good. It costs $170.

First of all, the sensor should facilitate the analysis of moments with the ball hitting the hand, determining the exact moment of contact. Secondly, it should simplify the determination of whether a football player is offside.

Belgium national team player Romelu Lukaku was able to see how this technology works several times during this tournament. This is how Loi Openda's handball was confirmed in an attack that ended with Romelu's precise strike. The “pulse” of the ball indicates that there was contact with the player's body. Belgium's goal against Slovakia was eventually disallowed.

Here's another episode. When Germany's David Raum crossed the ball into the penalty area, it lightly grazed the arm of Denmark's Joachim Andersen. In the past, this might have gone unnoticed, or at least unpunished. But in the world of high technology, almost everything is monitored, so the “crime” was noticed and shown on screens in great detail.

In the end, the referee awarded a penalty for handball, and German striker Kai Havertz made the score 1:0.

It's funny but true: when the referee is solely at fault for a decision, fans may not pay attention. However, when a smart ball or VAR disallows a goal by a few millimetres, there is a predictable (and understandable to me) uproar.

Another nuance: at a sampling frequency of 500 Hz, there is an error of 2 ms in determining the time of impact, and a ball with a speed of 64 km/h can fly 3.5 cm between samples. That is, there is still no perfect infallibility.

At the same time, some fans are proposing to embed similar sensors into the footballers themselves. This would allow viewers to understand what happened when a player falls over or rolls around the field feigning incredible pain after a collision.

By the way, the balls also have accelerometers and gyroscopes. They measure the speed, acceleration and rotation of the ball, providing data on the trajectory and force of the strike. You like to see such statistics in the broadcast, right?

Strict offsides

Euro 2024 used a semi-automatic offside detection system, which was successfully tested at the World Cup in Qatar. If two years ago, 10 cameras were used for this system at each arena, then in Germany the number increased to 12. With the help of AI, they tracked 29 different points on the body of each player and gave the video referees a signal when a footballer was in an offside position.

Using camera footage, the AI ​​tracks exactly when a pass was made and what position the attacking player was in relative to the defending players. It determines whether any part of the player was in an offside position within half a second, then sends an alert to the VAR operator, who can check and confirm the information and notify the referee.

I'll tell you about offsides using Lukaku as an example. In the middle of the second half of the match with Romania, Lukaku entered the penalty area and shot accurately into the bottom corner. But a couple of seconds later, VAR turned on and cancelled the goal. It turned out that Romelu was micro offside. Micro is when it looks like this:

Lukaku's kneecap is out of play, not even all of it, but a small part of it. The cancellation is fair, but it has raised many questions about how much footballers and spectators need this kind of technology. After all, football is not chess, and at speed it is difficult to understand whether you can continue to play, or whether your kneecap is a few millimeters further than it should be.

The offside rule is very precise and simple. If the rule needs some relaxation, maybe change the rule itself?

The Connected Ball system also created a 3D model of the ball in real time, no matter how its shape changed. Artificial intelligence and cloud technologiesThis made it possible to avoid mistakes and accurately determine whether the ball had left the field.

Automatic Goal Line Locator (GLT)

UEFA has installed Goal-line technology (GLT) at all venues used for the tournament. Using computer vision processing techniques and software, GLT indicates whether a goal has been scored within one second of the event. The technology determines whether the ball has completely crossed the goal line, which is useful in situations where the referee and assistant referees cannot determine this with certainty.

All 10 German stadiums are equipped with goal-line detection systems developed by the British firm Hawk-Eye Innovations or the German firm Vieww. There are seven cameras on the roof, each facing a goal (14 per stadium), which together provide the exact location of the ball.

If the ball is deemed to have crossed the goal line, an electronic message is sent to a watch-like receiver worn by match officials informing them that it was a goal.

The system allows teams to protect themselves from potential unfairness, when the ball almost flew into the goal, it was knocked out, and the referee still counts the goal. And vice versa, when the ball was visually knocked out of the goal line in time, but in fact it crossed the line.

Football is currently moving towards becoming as similar to a computer game as possible. Players are required to follow the rules of sensors and technology. If the computer thinks that a player has violated the rules in some way, it is better to obey and play on, rather than throw lightning bolts at the referee.

Are you for or against new technologies in football?