Referee Body Cameras to Debut at FIFA Club World Cup: A New Era for Fans and Officials

Referee Body Cameras to Debut at FIFA Club World Cup: A New Era for Fans and Officials

In an exciting development for soccer fans and officials alike, Pierluigi Collina has announced that this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup will feature footage from referees’ body cameras, offering a “new experience” for viewers. This innovative approach will allow fans to see goals, free kicks, tackles, and attacking moves from the unique perspective of the referee, immediately after they occur.

Body cameras have been trialed by officials in grassroots soccer in England over the past two seasons, primarily as a tool to reduce abuse directed at referees. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has also permitted their use in limited senior competitions for training and education purposes. At the senior level, the camera is part of the referee’s headset, attached to the ear.

Last season, the Bundesliga experimented with a “RefCam” during a match between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg, providing insights into the referee’s perspective and the work of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in a short documentary. Similarly, at the end of last season, Jarred Gillett’s every move was recorded during a Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Manchester United, once again for a future documentary.

The IFAB has supported a request to test the body cameras in FIFA competitions to identify possible future use, and they will be used at the Club World Cup in the United States. FIFA believes this will deliver a new dynamic for fans and provide valuable training opportunities for referees.

“We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision which was never offered before,” said Collina, chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee. “It also has a purpose in terms of referee coaching. Because, of course, having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing, to evaluate how the call was made by the referee, which was his view, and so on.”

Collina emphasized that this initiative is a combination of providing a new experience for broadcasters and serving coaching purposes. After the trials at grassroots level had a positive impact on player behavior, the IFAB is keen to continue testing and promoting the use of body cameras.

In preparation for the tournament, Club World Cup referees from UEFA attended a seminar in Zurich this week, following earlier events in Dubai and Buenos Aires. This is part of a comprehensive effort to ensure referees are ready for the competition.

• First-time use of referee body cameras in a FIFA tournament.
• Positive impact on player behavior observed in grassroots trials.
• Referees from UEFA attended seminars in Zurich, Dubai, and Buenos Aires.

“[It’s the] first time ever to have the best clubs… from each corner of the world competing,” Collina added. “So it’s, I would say, an extra responsibility for us, for refereeing, because we want to have our referees ready in the best conditions when the competition will start.”

Collina also highlighted the importance of maintaining a high standard of refereeing to ensure a successful competition. “We are following [and] monitoring their fitness, their health. Basically, we try to provide them all the support they may need. Our objective, our goal is to have the FIFA ‘Team One’ at the very best of their conditions when the ball will start rolling in Miami.”