A photo published on Reddit, a social network of forums, stunned the football world this week: the image of footballs inside plastic bags on induction charging bases, which, in turn, are connected to sockets. It’s as if instead of balls there were smartphones.
The question that arose is: why do balls need to be charged?
The Al-Rihla, the 14th model provided by Adidas in World Cups, is the first ball to contain an internal sensor that allows it to be tracked in real time, with cameras positioned around the pitch helping referees determine offside and other controversial decisions.
It’s what became known as semi-automatic offside, which has already canceled several goals in the World Cup in Qatar by centimeters.
The sensor, which weighs just 14 grams, is powered by a small battery, which Adidas claims can last for six hours of effective use or up to 18 days when not in use.
And to charge this battery is that the induction charging base is needed, since the ball is sealed.
Gone are the days when only a pump and nozzle were needed to keep a perfect football to be used in a match. New equipment has become indispensable, both on and off the field of play.
“Whenever the ball is kicked, headed, thrown or even touched, the system captures it at 500 frames per second,” said Maximillian Schmidt, co-founder and managing director of Kinexon, which manufactured the sensor.
“The data is sent in real time from sensors to a local positioning system (LPS), which involves a configuration of network antennas installed around the field of play that receive and store the data for immediate use”, he added.
It was this technology that took away a goal from Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo against Uruguay. On Monday (28), Bruno Fernandes crossed into the area and Ronaldo went up to head it. The ball followed its trajectory and ended up entering the left corner of goalkeeper Sergio Rochet.
The Portuguese striker left to celebrate his second goal in the World Cup in Qatar, which would be his ninth in World Cups, equaling Eusébio’s mark. However, moments later FIFA announced that the goal had been credited to Bruno Fernandes.
As Ronaldo’s header had repercussions in the press and on social networks, Adidas released a note clarifying the situation.
“Using the Connected Ball Technology installed on the official match ball, Al Rihla by Adidas, we are able to definitively show that there was no contact by Cristiano Ronaldo with the ball in the opening goal of the match. No external force on the ball could be measured, as shown by the lack of a ‘beat’ in our measurements. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis,” said the press release published in the European press.
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