Referees will receive a decision within half a second to tell them if a player is offside or not.

Amidst all the technological advancements, the game of football is set to have a new experience as Abu Dhabi World Club Cup is going to have high-tech AI and robo-refs to make the game calls.

The latest trial of ‘robot referees’ will take place at next week’s Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi where Chelsea will try the technology during their Club World Cup semi-final.

The club is going to be the first Premier League side to be involved in the trialling of the new technology.

The new system installed in the stadium’s roof will track the ball and each player to make automatic offside decisions within half a second and relies on special cameras attached to the roofs of stadiums to create an animated skeleton of players through 29 data points. The AI system will then recreate a 3D model that can be updated 50 times a second to help officials reach the correct decisions.

After the trials of the technology are successful, FIFA hopes to use the technology at the World Cup in Qatar.

Johannes Holzmuller, FIF’s Director of Football Technology & Innovation, said, “We strongly believe that access to this new data source can positively impact the game by optimising decision-making processes and increasing objectivity.”

According to FIFA, the new technology has the ‘potential to provide new insights for coaches, medical staff, and fans’. The trial will enable backroom staff to ‘analyse the action from the point of view of a specific player on the pitch, scrutinise a match-changing moment from the perfect angle or get a bird’s-eye view of the pitch.’