By Kurt Hall
Fifa is weighing up the introduction of new refereeing technologies and stricter timekeeping rules at the 2026 World Cup as it looks to build on trials conducted at this year’s Club World Cup in the US, senior officials said on the eve of Friday’s World Cup draw.
Johannes Holzmueller, Fifa’s director of innovation, said the governing body wanted to expand use of a referee body camera system and an advanced version of semi-automated offside, both tested at the Club World Cup, but first needed to secure regulatory approval.
“We want to build on the success of the Fifa Club World Cup that happened this year in the US, where we successfully trialled the referee body camera,” Holzmueller said on a panel on Thursday.
He said adding the system — branded “referee with you” — fed images into the live TV feed and onto stadium giant screens to show spectators “what the referee saw in that special moment ... That’s definitely something we want to bring forward. But of course so far it was a trial. We need to get the approvals so we can bring that to the World Cup as well.”
Any rule changes would have to be approved by the International Football Association Board (Ifab) at its meeting in Wales in February.
Holzmueller said Fifa had also quietly advanced its semi-automated offside technology in the Club World Cup by sending certain offside alerts directly to assistant referees instead of only to the video assistant referee (VAR), reducing delays.
For us it’s always a balance between what we can improve and what is the tradition of our sport
— Johannes Holzmueller, Fifa director of innovation
“For positional offside, the information was via an audio alert directly sent to the assistant referee, and they could raise the flag,” he said. “So we had not really any longer delay for positional offside.”
He rejected the idea that technology was creating a new version of the sport, arguing it was instead restoring the game’s traditional flow.
“For us it’s always a balance between what we can improve and what is the tradition of our sport. Technology can help to support the referees but also support coaches, medical staff, and fans without changing the game.”
Pierluigi Collina, chairperson of the Fifa referees committee, said changes to how long goalkeepers could hold the ball, announced by the Ifab last March, were aimed at speeding up play after Fifa found some keepers took up to 25 seconds.
“We gave goalkeepers two seconds more, but they have to be 100% sure that once the eight seconds are finished, the referee will intervene,” he said.
Comparing today’s officiating environment with his own World Cup experiences, Collina said the level of support and accuracy now available to match officials was “night and day”.
The 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the US, Mexico and Canada, will hold its draw on Friday in Washington.
Reuters
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