BEIJING, June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The expanded 48-team World Cup kicked off on Thursday. For fans worldwide, the central question remains unchanged: Who will lift the trophy? Alongside the pre-tournament artificial intelligence (AI)-generated predictions about the ultimate winners, football is quietly undergoing another transformation brought on by AI.
Across global football, AI is no longer an experimental tool. It is embedded in the development of the modern game. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) systems, semi-automated offside technology and match balls equipped with sensors have turned elite football into a highly digitized one.
In top international competitions, AI-powered systems now assist referees by tracking player positions and generating rapid 3D reconstructions of key incidents, allowing offside decisions to be made in seconds rather than minutes. These systems rely on computer vision and stadium-wide camera networks that produce continuous tracking data for every player on the pitch.
