AL Rihla ball: The truth behind FIFA's semi-automatic ball

2 years ago

The 2022 World Cup is not only a special World Cup, but it is also considered one of the most expensive World Cups ever because of the technology and science applied by the host country Qatar at this tournament and the participation of the robot referee, or partly the ball. This is a semi-automatic ball that helps distinguish right from wrong in football with precision down to millimeters as the introduction of the host country.

Robot  or semi-automatic ball will help the referees determine if a player is offside and give a result faster and make these situations undisputed. And in this episode of Journey to the World Cup show, we will learn together about the official ball of the 2022 World Cup. The ball is called Al Rihla ball.

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Why did FIFA choose the AL Rihla ball for the World Cup 2022?

It's not surprising that FIFA unveiled the technology that's continuously being used in football. For example, at the 2018 World Cup, VAR technology was introduced and proved to be very successful. Therefore, President Gianni Infanio has said that from 2022-2023 technology will play an integral part in football. And so, scientific technology has more and more influence in the world of football.

More importantly, FIFA wants to upgrade VAR to bring more fairness in football. And in this World Cup campaign, FIFA continues to improve and utilize as much technology as possible in every aspect of the game. This technology is the result of their three years of painstaking research, aiming to once again bring precision to football.

What is the AL Rihla ball? 

Briefly about the official ball used in this World Cup, Adidas is once again trusted to make the ball for the most attractive match on the planet. This marks the 14th time in a row that German sports has been selected as a producer. The ball's name is Al Rihla, which promises to be the fastest ball in World Cup history. Al Rihla in Egyptian means "journey". And it is also inspired by the boats of the host country Qatar with vibrant colors sketched on a pearl white background.

 

The ball is meticulously designed, using fine-tuned data from laboratories, and has been tested through the harsh environments unique to Qatar. Therefore, Al Rihla is said to have extremely high accuracy, along with extremely solid surface texture.

On AL Rihla appearance 

 

 

The exterior of Al Rihla is made of polyurethane leather that includes a variety of textures in a variety of sizes, along with 20 pieces that come together to enhance aerodynamics, improve flight accuracy and stability when flying in the air. In addition, Adidas also uses safe and environmentally friendly materials. Al Rihla is the first World Cup ball in history from Adidas which uses water-based ink and glue. Moreover, 1% of Al Rihla sales will also be donated to support the Common Goal movement in Qatar.

On the technology inside

The inside of the ball uses a slightly adjusted CTR-Core core for improved accuracy and consistency when moving; also helps the shadow to hold its breath better and less likely to deflate. There are 10 cities around the world that will be chosen as the place to launch this official set of balls in the near future. It is Shanghai, Mexico City, New York, Dubai, Tokyo, and this journey also will bring football legends that once captivated so many hearts. It can be mentioned as Casillas and Kaka. 

 

The 2022 World Cup is also the first time a semi-automatic ball has been put into use, in order to help the referees reduce the time when having to check the VAR to see if the player is offside or not. It also helps the players as well as spectators on the field and television viewers determine if this is a controversial ball or not, helping to reduce downtime. According to official FIFA statistics, each referee's VAR check will take about 70 seconds on average. This number will be reduced to 25 seconds in the future if it is successfully applied.

 

The technology currently applied is described that there will be 12 sets of specialized cameras placed around the field to observe the ball at each speed, as well as identify almost immediately 29 points on the body of the player holding the ball. and start scanning 50 times per second, helping to calculate the exact position of the player on the field almost absolutely. Of course, these 29 points have been studied by experts to determine that these are the areas where players are most likely to be offside.

 

 

To make identification even easier, the AL Rihla ball will be equipped with an inertial measurement sensor placed in the center of the ball. This sensor is wirelessly connected to cameras around the field and returns data to the VAR office up to 500 times per second. It allows the VAR team to capture every player's movement by combining the data Collect details of balls. Both artificial intelligence, semi-automated offside tracking technology, and semi-automated offside tracking are able to provide automatic offside warnings to the VAR team just a few seconds after a player receives the ball from a teammate in an offside position.

 

This technology is called semi-initial because it is like determining whether a player is offside or not. And the decision to blow a penalty still belongs to the referees. This is a bit different from the robot at the edge, when it will be the one who raises the flag for the players. Not only that, after the referee blows for offside, the computer will immediately sketch a 3d model of that offside phase, avoiding the players having unnecessary duels. This system can even automatically select the viewing angle from a total of 12 cameras to capture, but to create the most perfect sketch, this technology will project it on the big screen in the middle of the field.

 

However, this is not the first time a semi-automatic ball has been put into use. The Arab Cup 2021 or most recently the FIFA Club World Cup where Chelsea won the championship, a semi-automatic ball was also put into use to make it easier for the referee to determine offside. 

 

According to the official announcement from FIFA, information about the purchase of AL Rihla balls was officially announced on July 15 in a workshop held in Doha and also publicly televised.

Conclusion 

Perhaps the debate about whether technology has killed the true emotions of football has also gradually come to an end. And it is believed that each of us is also difficult to answer for ourselves. VAR has also been around for a long time and it has also helped fans get into the habit of enjoying football in a new way. Although it makes the game more unnatural and less emotional than before, it brings fairness. Sometimes, it also makes the game longer.

 

Therefore, it can be seen that any technology is the same. We still need time to get used to and adapt to it. And Adidas Al Rihla ball is no exception. Instead of discussing how it kills common sense, we should remember that how to receive football should depend on each of us subjectively. Let’s enjoy it in our own way and prepare together for the upcoming exciting World Cup. It also burns out in the biggest match on the planet with the most sincere affection that fans have for this sport for so long.

 

It can be seen that the host Qatar has invested a lot of money for this World Cup. From the race of getting votes to become the host, to investing in infrastructure, like in a hotel and restaurant system, a public transport system to serve the World Cup. Or even in the most modern technology systems that can be brought into football such as goal-lines, robot referees or semi-automatic balls will also be introduced at this World Cup. This promises to be an extremely modern playground and once again proves whether technology really kills football emotions. And this is the Journey to the 2022 World Cup special issue of the adidas AL Rihla ball.