Referees to Wear Body Cams at FIFA Club World Cup

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has announced that referees at this year’s Club World Cup will wear body cameras as part of a trial initiative. The decision was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) the sport’s lawmakers, last month.

According to Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA referees committee, the cameras will provide a new perspective for viewers and offer valuable insights for coaching and debriefing purposes. “We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision which was never offered before.”

“It’s a combination of new experience for broadcasters and also for coaching purposes,” he added.

The cameras will also allow for a more detailed analysis of referees’ decisions. “Having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing, to evaluate how the call was made by the referee, which was his view, and so on,” Collina added.

In addition to the body cameras, the Club World Cup will introduce new rules aimed at reducing time-wasting by goalkeepers. If a goalkeeper holds onto the ball for more than eight seconds, the opposing team will be awarded a corner kick.

This is an extension of the current rule, which states that goalkeepers should be sanctioned with an indirect free kick if they hold onto the ball for more than six seconds.

The Club World Cup, featuring 32 teams, will take place in the United States from June 14 to July 13. The tournament will provide a platform for the new rules and technology to be tested and refined.