Morning Distribution for Tuesday, November 22, 2022

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Tuesday, November 22, 2022 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [Argentina Training Session – FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022]( [The World Cup’s New High-Tech Ball Will Change Soccer Forever]( By [Ben Dowsett]( When the 2022 World Cup made its debut on Sunday, it kicked off one of the most significant in-game uses of technology in sports history. All tournament long, match balls will contain a sensor that collects spatial positioning data in real time — the first World Cup to employ such a ball-tracking mechanism. This, combined with existing optical tracking tools, will make VAR (video assistant referees) and programs like offside reviews more accurate and streamlined than they’ve ever been. Combining these two forms of tracking has long been a holy grail of sorts in technology circles, and FIFA’s use of the ball sensor in particular will serve as a highly public test case over the next four weeks. Like so many other parts of the burgeoning world of sports tech, the setup used at the World Cup is both an endpoint and the foundation of a whole new era. Years of research and testing were needed to get here — this particular ball sensor was in development and testing for six years before receiving full FIFA certification — but events like this could quickly catapult emerging technology into the public eye through applications that stretch well beyond officiating. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: How The ’90s Shaped Today’s GOP]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.