Football they say brings millions of people with different background and orientations from around the world together. Fans from all walks of life, cultures, and civilizations gathered for the biggest football competition – the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The passion has been felt, shouts have been heard, and many couldn’t afford to miss the actions from the likes Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Lucas Modric, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, Ahmed Musa and hosts of other star players.
However, the introduction of the latest technology into the much anticipated global sporting event makes the competition more interesting and intriguing. Modern Technology was deployed during the 2018 World Cup hosted in Russia in an amazing way. In fact, it has become a major talking point at different fora where the World Cup is discussed, deciding many key games. While many football analysts and devotees are of the opinion that the inclusion of technology at this year’s World Cup would significantly reduce human errors; at the same time, some others opined that it would ruin the fun of the competition and probably make the players shiver. However, technology has been much effective and has aided refereeing decisions in delicate situations.
Dicey irregularities are FIFA’s main reason for the use of technologies in this year’s FIFA world cup. As the tournament is coming to an end, we’ve all witnessed how these technological tools enhanced the officiating of most matches by the referees and give extra information to the teams.
For the first time in the history of World Cups, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used efficiently. it helped referees with decisions regarding goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity – these are costly mistakes some referees make and it has not been attended to up until now. With goal-line technologies like Goal Ref and Hawk-Eye being used for the second World Cup competition, it is evident that FIFA utilised technology more than every World Cup that has been played before. Other technologies that were used in the World Cup Are; Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems, and The Adidas Telstar 18.
How Do All These Technologies Work?
The video assistant referees, VAR team comprises the video assistant referee and 3 other assistant video assistant referees. The operation room and for this World Cup, the centralized room was situated in Moscow, at the International Broadcast Centre. The VAR team has access to 33 different broadcast cameras. Of these cameras, 8 broadcast the footage in super-slow-motion mode. Four other cameras are in ultra-slow-motion. Among other things, the VAR was used for is for is to determine goals or offenses which can lead up to a goal, penalty decisions direct, red card incidents, and mistaken identity.
Also, goal-line technology was used to abolish the ‘is it a goal’, near-miss, did the goalkeeper put it away or is the referee correct arguments that occurred during every match. For the technology to work, 14 different high-speed cameras were installed in the stadiums. Seven different cameras were required to monitor each goal post and their focus was on the goal line.
The mode of operation of this technology is simple, the entire ball must cross the line. When the condition is met, the camera captures this and sends a signal to the referee’s watch. How is the referee informed? The signal causes the referee’s watch to vibrate and then the word, “goal” flashes across the screen of his watch within a second. Epic, Isn’t it?
The third major technology in use at World Cup is electronic performance & tracking systems. It consists of a number of tools and communication equipment for both teams. The technical and medical staff of the participating teams have dedicated workstations on the media tribune and a dedicated line to communicate with the coaching and medical staff on the bench. Positional data from two optical tracking cameras located on the main tribune that track the players and ball will be available to the analysts in real time alongside live footage from selected tactical cameras.
And lastly is Adidas Telstar 18. It was presented by Lionel Messi on November 9, 2017, in Moscow. Near-Field Communication (NFC) chips were embedded in the ball to ensure communication with sophisticated smartphones.
The Use of Digital Media Tools in The World Cup
We’ve talked about how technology devices were used throughout the World Cup matches. Now, we just need to talk a little about the use of digital media tools in the competition. These digital media tools range from live streaming apps like Kwese iflix, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV and lots of other live streaming apps.
Also, social media buzz during the World Cup was quite amazing. Twitter and Facebook’s hypodermic needle effects helped lots of people who couldn’t hook with some matches in the tournament fall back in love with their respective teams with the comment on especially Twitter through the use of hashtags.
The FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia took another dimension this year. Not just because of the way the matches are being played, but with the way social media has reacted to the many happenings in the tournament. This makes today’s world a global village, thanks to social media. There even appears to be a social media cup on as well.
As cited on news18.com, the most discussed teams on social media are Argentina, Russia, Brazil, Portugal, and Nigeria.
Also, the most discussed players on social media is the captain of Argentina, Lionel Messi in the lead. In at number two is Neymar Jr, the Brazil star has started to shine brightly in the World Cup with a recent 2-0 win over Mexico. Despite the loss to Uruguay, Portugal’s captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, comes in at number three. Barcelona’s attacking force, Philippe Coutinho, is very much alive and kicking in the FIFA World Cup with his performance for Brazil and comes in at number four. At number five is Germany’s Toni Kroos. Despite a game-winning free-kick in the dying minutes of the game against Sweden, Kroos and Germany exited the World Cup thanks to South Korea.
We’ve seen how technology and football co-exist in this year’s World cup and it will be really interesting if we can witness a world where football and technology collaborate more. The body in charge of the World Cup should also not rest its oars on this first success but to improve on the next World cup in Qatar come 2022.