The 2026 FIFA World Cup is just around the corner and with the draw for the world's biggest sporting event on the horizon, football's governing body FIFA is ruffling its feathers.
The contentious World Cup, taking place in Canada, the United States and Mexico, has already been criticized amid a turbulent political climate for devaluing fans through dynamic pricing, official resale platforms with no cap on ticket prices and an emphasis on buying special passes for early access to seats.
Technology is not always good
VAR (Video Assistant Referee) is one of the most controversial topics in the world of football (I'll call it football from now on) because while it gives human referees an idea of what's happening on the pitch, it leads to long stoppages in a frantic sport that relies on its intensity.
Not only that, but VAR often finds itself in the spotlight due to human errors leading to poor decisions, essentially leaving fans asking, “Is the sport better without a video referee?”
This is why the addition of VAR on corners using new AI ball technology (I'll get to that shortly) cannot be seen as a positive unless it flows smoothly during the competition and doesn't detract from the spectacle.
The fact is that football fans have lost trust in VAR, so the idea of adding more technology is widely seen as a net negative. Angles, fouls, goals, offsides – all of this is now controlled by VAR, and while it would be nice if it was quick and always accurate, unfortunately it is not.
According to BBC Sport“At an October meeting of the International Football Association Council (Ifab), which sets the rules of the game, it was agreed that VAR could be extended to cover incorrectly shown second yellow cards that lead to a red.”
“But FIFA's proposal to review corners has been rejected, meaning world football's governing body will need to effectively create a test for use in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer.”
Due to the nature of football, referees are not allowed to change a decision once they have made a decision and play has restarted. This means that with the new implementation of VAR, every moment of the World Cup will need to be reviewed, and while FIFA believes it has the resources to include this, I have not seen enough evidence to believe that football's governing body is doing so.
The fans don't want this
After reports of VAR being turned on for corner kicks began to emerge, social media was flooded with football fans around the world expressing their disdain for the decision.
One Reddit user said: “This makes absolutely no sense.” Another added: “I swear football keeps enforcing stupid rules.”
However, my favorite comment: “At this rate, midnight starts (in Europe) may not end until 5am!” This demonstrates the lack of trust fans have in referees to make effective decisions without wasting a lot of time.
Earlier this year, in the FA Cup match between Bournemouth and Wolves, the VAR decision took eight minutes to make… Now imagine the potential chaos if VAR corner analysis is not properly optimized.
It's all about the ball
To be able to effectively determine the outcome of corner kicks using VAR, FIFA introduced a new AI ball for the World Cup, although not just for the purpose of tracking corner kicks.
The new ball, called Trionda, is made by Adidas using artificial intelligence that constantly tracks movement and sends real-time data to officials. The idea is to help judges make decisions faster, especially in chaotic moments when incidents are often overlooked. Adidas says “connected ball technology” will help referees make faster decisions with real-time data transmitted to VAR along with player position data.
On paper it looks like a neat update, with AI giving VAR more information when bodies are flying all over the place. It may even make decisions clearer and prevent forwards from being attacked in rugby at every set piece.
But here's the problem: if you already hate how much VAR interrupts the flow of the match, this won't help.
Football has just gone through the era of toenail offsides, and now we're heading into the World Cup, where the AI chip inside the ball could cause even more delays because it thinks something looks a little fishy. FIFA says it's all about fairness, but fans are tired of sport being treated like a science project.
There's also the larger question of whether it actually improves the spectacle. Technology continues to penetrate deeper into football, and each level seems to give VAR more control. If the ball starts sending automatic alerts during corners, the momentum will fade every time someone is pushed towards the near post.
The Trionda will still look and feel like a regular ball, and Adidas insists it performs the same as previous models. Although this is good news for players hoping to avoid Jabulani defeat in 2010For fans, it feels like another step towards a version of football in which every big moment goes through a digital filter before it counts.
AI in the ball may clean up some decisions, but it also risks turning corners into forensic investigations. And if you already think VAR has taken too much away from the game, I have a feeling the 2026 World Cup will make that even more clear.
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