Why FIFA World Cup Balls Are Super Hi-Tech That Need To Be Charged Before Games

The FIFA World Cup 2022 sets a record as teams from all continents have advanced to the round of 16 for the first time ever.

The Qatar World Cup tournament, which concluded its group stage on Friday, saw a record for the Asian Football Confederation, with three teams (Australia, Japan and South Korea) reaching the knockout stages.

Ahead of the Qatar FIFA world cup 2022,  Adidas – an official FIFA partner for the tournament is supplying the match ball for the tournament. The official match ball has been named “Al Rihla”, meaning journey in Arabic.

The relationship between FIFA and Adidas dates back more than 50 years. Since 1970, Adidas has been supplying the official match ball for all FIFA World Cup matches.

When you think about foot ball of soccer games, you never think about advanced technology. But if you’ve been following the World Cup closely, you may have noticed balls being charged on the sidelines. It may seem bizarre, but there’s a good reason that FIFA decided to make the 2022 World Cup soccer balls high-tech.

Football has a sensor inside

The Adidas FIFA world cup soccer ball has a sensor inside that measures data such as speed and direction and allows for ball-tracking and offside calls by the VAR.

The sensor football is powered by a small battery, which can last for six hours of active use and up to 18 days when not in use.

This high-tech sensor football came into the limelight when it was determined that Bruno Fernandes scored a goal and not Cristiano Ronaldo during the match between Portugal and Uruguay. Before, this FIFA world cup match, no one knew about this advanced soccer ball.

Recently, a photo that went viral on social media uploaded by a Reddit user revealed the fluro-coloured balls being charged, like a mobile phone, from a power board before a match.

Help on Ball-tracking during the game

The soccer ball sensor weighs only 14 grams and gives ball-tracking during the game with cameras positioned around the pitch helping referees to determine offsides and other decisions. 

Any time a ball is touched or kicked at the FIFA World Cup 2022, the sensors start firing away and pick up data at 500 frames per second. This data is instantly transmitted to the local positioning system (LPS) installed around the field, which stores the information for immediate use.

According to reports, it took three years for Adidas to manufacture balls to be in the FIFA World Cup 2022. Pakistan’s Sialkot city manufactures over 70 per cent of the world’s footballs and is the source of footballs for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha, Qatar. 

The FIFA World Cup 2022 final will be played on December 18.