FIFA Enhances Offside Technology for 2026 World Cup with AI Scanning

FIFA is actively exploring methods to enhance offside decisions for the upcoming 2026 World Cup.

The organization plans to implement AI-enabled 3D avatars of all players, which will significantly improve the tournament’s semi-automated offside technology. This ambitious initiative requires digital scans of all 1,248 players across the 26-man squads from the 48 participating teams.

During their pre-tournament photo shoot, each player will enter a scanning chamber, where the process will take just one second and will only need to be conducted once. FIFA asserts that these scans will “capture highly accurate body-part dimensions,” thereby facilitating more precise offside determinations.

This advancement is expected to allow tournament officials to “track players reliably during fast or obstructed movements,” and to present final decisions in a more realistic and engaging manner. The need for improvement in offside technology has been underscored by recent controversies, such as a notable incident in the Premier League involving a Newcastle goal against Manchester City, where discrepancies between visual graphics and televised images raised questions.

FIFA aims to mitigate such issues by employing accurate scans of each player, enhancing the clarity of offside decisions for fans. This technology was previously tested during FIFA’s Intercontinental Cup, where players from Flamengo and Pyramids FC underwent scanning ahead of their match in December.

Additionally, FIFA recently announced the testing of new technology to determine whether the ball goes out of play before a goal is scored. They are also developing a ‘real-time 3D recreation’ system to aid in making line-of-sight offside decisions more effectively.