The FIFA World Cup 2026™ has delivered more than goals and drama on the pitch — it has become a showcase for cutting-edge technology developed in partnership with FIFA's official technology partner, Lenovo. As the expanded 48-team group stage wraps up and the round of 32 gets underway, three landmark innovations are drawing attention: Referee View, Player Avatars, and Football AI Pro.

Referee View brings fans inside the action

Referee View uses a small, lightweight camera worn on the head of the main official, capturing a first-person perspective of every match. Throughout the group stage, the system has recorded and transmitted high-definition video and audio in real time, feeding directly into live broadcasts and post-match content.

Lenovo's proprietary stabilisation algorithm smooths out unwanted movement in the raw feed, producing clean, fluid footage. The result has been a series of striking viewing angles — long-range strikes, intricate dribbles, and the raw intensity of top-level football, all seen through the referee's own eyes.

Player avatars raise the bar for offside technology

One of the most talked-about upgrades at FIFA World Cup 2026™ is the introduction of photorealistic player avatars into the semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) system. To make this possible, Lenovo managed the complex logistics of deploying 3D scanners across all 48 participating squads, creating individual digital scans of all 1,248 players in the tournament.

These avatars feed directly into the SAOT system, providing precise body measurements that sharpen player tracking during offside reviews. Crucially, they also improve the visual presentation of offside decisions — replacing generic outlines with recognisable, photographic-quality figures that make rulings far easier for viewers to understand at a glance.

The scale of the project — covering every player at the largest FIFA World Cup™ in history — underscores the depth of technical work Lenovo contributed, applying AI throughout the avatar-creation pipeline.

Football AI Pro redefines post-match analysis

Football AI Pro is an advanced post-match analysis tool built on hybrid and generative artificial intelligence, developed by FIFA and Lenovo specifically for coaching staff and match analysts. It combines AI agents capable of processing plain-language queries with structured match data — including event data, tracking data, and video — as well as FIFA's specialised Football Language model.

The tool delivers tactical insights, performance breakdowns, and strategic recommendations quickly and in a structured format. Every one of the 48 teams at FIFA World Cup 2026™ has used the system, querying official match data, footage, and 3D video content. To date, Football AI Pro has been operated in 15 different languages.

Beyond the tournament, the tool signals a shift in how artificial intelligence could support professional football clubs of all sizes — reducing the time and resources required for in-depth analysis, and making elite-level insights more accessible regardless of budget.