Al Rihla, which means "the voyage" in Arabic, will be used as the official world cup ball for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicks off today. The event which holds once in four years is arguably the most anticipated sporting event in the world for spectators, participants and host countries. However, this special edition could be revolutionary for fans of the sport, as they are set to be entertained and greeted with several technologies which could define the future of the sport going forward. Apart from the fact that it is the first time that an Arab country is hosting the event, the World Cup would be characterised by so many other firsts. It will also be the first time that the event will be held in the middle of the European football season. For the first time also, all eight venues of the competition are located within an hour’s distance from each other, making it a first-of-its-kind compact World Cup. While all of these things make the FIFA World Cup in Qatar an event “not to be missed,” there is one element that makes this edition of the competition even more unique: Technological innovations. This read affords you 6 technological infusions and innovations that could change the future of the game, impressing players, fans, and more in the process. Read also: Can technology make Nigeria’s 2023 elections more credible? Enhanced Football Intelligence At the event in Qatar, FIFA will provide worldwide TV, the online audience, the participating teams and their players with the most up-to-date insights, measurements, and performance data in tournament history. The expanded football intelligence service, created by the FIFA High-Performance team under the direction of Arsène Wenger, FIFA Chief of Global Football Development, will provide fresh and intriguing analytics to enhance the coverage and analysis of each game during the competition. “We would like to share our vision of using football data analytics combined with technical expert interpretation to create a new football intelligence, allowing everyone to better understand the game” Arsene Wenger, FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Every game will feature a different set of in-game and post-game improved football intelligence visuals that are presented as augmented reality and conventional graphics. These enhanced statistics give operational definitions, several video examples, and precise breakdowns of every aspect of the game. They also explicitly explain each action. According to Wenger, “Enhanced football intelligence will be our blueprint for how we analyse football in the future. When we discover new insights, we want to share them with the world of football. With our online FIFA Training Centre, we have a fantastic vehicle to do so. My team will continue to provide new and insightful football analysis content to help share new understanding of the game combined with performance data, video examples and technical explanations.” FIFA will be able to use this data to do developmental analysis to better understand what it takes to go from junior to senior level in both the men’s and women’s sports, as well as longitudinal post-match analysis to understand how the game is evolving over time. Al Rihla Al Rihla, which means “the voyage” in Arabic, will be used as the official world cup ball for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Al Rihla, the official match ball for the 2022 World Cup, is an innovative product. It has an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor that can identify tight offside events as part of the Adidas Suspension System. The match ball features a connected ball technology which will relay real-time data to VAR officials. The kick point may be identified with extreme precision thanks to this sensor, which is located in the centre of the ball and feeds ball data to the video operation room 500 times per second. This is the first time ever that a World Cup match ball will feature this technology. FIFA Player App Another tec...