Referee body cams, keeper timeouts, AI: What's new at the Club World Cup

Al Jazeera

12-06-2025

The FIFA Club World Cup has undergone a revamp since it was last competed in December 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
The number of participating clubs has increased fourfold to 32, the frequency of the competition has gone from annual to quadrennial and the champion's prize money – previously $5m – has gone up by a whopping $35m.
It's not just the numbers that have changed in the tournament. FIFA is also looking to introduce new technology, including artificial intelligence to help the referees, and it is getting stricter on goalkeepers who waste time while holding the ball.
Here's a look at the three big changes to be implemented at the monthlong tournament, which will get under way on Saturday in the United States:
Small cameras, protruding from the referees' ears, will capture the live action unfolding in front of them.
The video will be fed to the ongoing match broadcast and will be aired to the viewers but only if the action is not controversial. So any penalty appeals, disputed calls and other potentially game-changing moments of controversy will be cut out.
However, fans will be offered unique views of goals, saves, crosses, player runs and tackles. The feature will only be available in the six NFL stadiums being used during the tournament – Atlanta, Charlotte, Los Angeles, Miami, East Rutherford, Philadelphia and Seattle.
'The objective is to offer the TV viewers a new experience,' Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said while announcing the move on Wednesday.
He said the technology will be trialled during the tournament and offer football's rule-making body a chance to review it, along with footage of controversial moments, for long-term implementation.
Collina asked for patience from the fans during this phase and suggested taking things 'step by step'.
'At the moment, this is a trial. We need to do something new and the simpler the better. So we fixed some rules within a protocol. Will we offer these images in the future? Maybe when we learn to run, maybe not, maybe we will do.'
Referee body camera in action. We can expect to see more of this at @FIFACWC ⚽️
Footage from Botafogo vs. Pachuca in the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2024™ where body cameras were trialled. #TakeItToTheWorld | #FIFACWC | #FootballUnitesTheWorld pic.twitter.com/A30PiFDDA1
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) June 6, 2025While the assistance of technology in making offside decisions is not new, the Club World Cup will use it slightly differently by employing AI for an 'enhanced semiautomatic offside'.
Video feed from 16 cameras will provide footage of the ongoing action to an AI-based programme, which will then alert match officials as soon as an offside player touches the ball.
Officials hope this new mechanism will help curtail the time in decision-making. The system will likely see the flag raised earlier for offside and reduce cases of play continuing after a clear offside, as opposed to a later video assistant referee (VAR) review.
In another first, footage of VAR-based offside reviews will be shown to the spectators inside the stadiums on big screens.
It's not entirely new, but time-wasting goalkeepers will also face the heat much earlier than usual as FIFA has asked referees to clamp down on glovemen who take too long on the ball.
The rules stipulate that keepers can't hold onto the ball for longer than six seconds, but they have not been punished as frequently as the game's governing body would have liked.
Now referees will issue a warning at five seconds – counted down by the officials on their hands – and the keeper must release the ball before a total of eight seconds are up.
Failing to do so will result in a corner kick for the opposition as opposed to an indirect free kick, which was previously given.