Qatar World Cup Could Have Robot Linesmen As FIFA Set to Try New Technology in Global Showpiece

• Robot linesmen are set to be deployed to the 2022 FIFA World Cup which starts in Qatar later in the year
• FIFA president Gianni Infantino is keen on improving the officiating standards at the global showpiece
• The robots will only help match officials detect offside as the match referee and linesmen are still saddled with decision making

The president of the world’s football governing body FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has considered introducing the “semi-automated offside” system at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

It was gathered that the system which uses 10 cameras to track 29 body points of each player was first adopted at the Club World Cup which was won by Premier League club Chelsea.

The technology was also used at the recent Arab Cup which was held inside four of the eight World Cup stadiums in Doha.

Reports have it that the technology worked well at the competitions as it resulted in extremely quicker offside calls than the VAR line-led system.

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FIFA executives are expected to make a decision on the new idea during the annual general meeting of the law-making International FA Board.

Former Italian referee Pierluigi Collina who is also a FIFA referee chief said as per SunSport:

"The referees and assistants are still responsible for the decision on the field of play.

"The technology only gives them valued support to make more accurate and quicker decisions, particularly when the offside decision is very tight and difficult."

Zidane’s statue to be displayed in Qatar

Meanwhile, Qatar is aiming to put a controversial statue of Zinedine Zidane's notorious 2006 World Cup final headbutt of Marco Materazzi on display for this year's tournament.

The bronze monument has been part of the country's culture for nearly 10 years, though not without controversy.

In 2013 when it first went up on the capital Doha's seafront, the five-metre high sculpture showing the French legend confronting the Italian defender went up for less than four weeks before being taken down as a result of protests that it breached Islamic laws on idolisation.

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Referee consoles Zinchenko following World Cup miss

Sports Brief earlier reported that Ukraine defender Oleksandr Zinchenko was visibly broken after his country's failure to qualify for the World Cup following a narrow defeat to Wales in the qualifiers.

The Manchester City defender had to be consoled by Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz as he broke down in tears after the disappointment.

In photos posted on social media, Lahoz is seen encouraging the Ukrainian not to give up, having already been through tough times.