JEDDAH: When the FIFA World Cup kicked off in USA, Mexico and Canada, billions of fans were glued to their screens. There were goals, controversies and last-minute dramas but the real magic was not just happening on the grass.
Behind the scenes, engineers and tech companies had turned the tournament into a massive showcase for innovation.
From smart footballs, an “out-of-bounds” ball-tracking system and “Football AI Pro” to real-time referee body cameras, AI-generated 3D player avatars, broadcast operations, security, transport, communications infrastructure, robot dogs and fan engagement, all these technologies were changing how football fans experienced the game.
Beyond all this, artificial intelligence has become one of the tournament’s most influential forces, quietly supporting referees, helping coaches analyze tactics, powering live broadcasts with instant insights and creating more personalized experiences for fans.
Unlike the World Cup in Qatar, where AI was largely viewed as an experimental tool, the 2026 edition demonstrated that it is no longer an optional extra. It has become an integral part of football’s biggest event, embedded in everything from match operations to fan engagement.
The tournament marks a significant milestone in the relationship between sport and technology, raising an important question: Has AI become as indispensable to the modern World Cup as video assistant referees, goal-line technology and advanced player analytics?
According to experts, the answer is increasingly yes. While the players remain at the heart of the game, AI is transforming how it is experienced by billions of people worldwide.
Mohammad Khoja, founder of Trilix AI, told Arab News that football fans would not only remember this edition as the first to feature 48 teams and be hosted by three countries but also for the enormous role AI played in virtually every aspect of it.
“At Trilix we believe AI should be used, not because it looks impressive but because it solves real problems, improves decisions and creates an experience people can genuinely feel,” he said.
“The main benefits are speed, accuracy and consistency. For officials, AI provides better evidence for difficult calls, particularly offsides and slight touches. It does not replace the referee but it helps them make faster and more informed decisions.
“For me, the biggest wow factor is the technology inside the match ball. The connected ball uses highly sensitive motion sensors to detect extremely slight touches and combines that data with cameras and player tracking. We have had sports analytics for years but when the ball itself becomes a live source of data, officials can see things the human eye may completely miss.”
Asked if he had concerns about the growing reliance on AI, Khoja said: “Absolutely. There is a difference between technical accuracy and sporting fairness. A sensor may detect the slightest touch but fans may still question whether a goal should be cancelled over something almost invisible.
“AI can tell us what happened but humans must still decide what it should mean. The right model is human-led and AI-supported. The referee, coach or analyst should always remain responsible for the final decision.”
The 2026 tournament was a preview of what people could expect when the Kingdom hosts the event in 2034, Khoja said.
“Saudi Arabia has the opportunity to build Arabic-first fan experiences, intelligent stadiums, AI-powered crowd and transport systems and advanced performance platforms. By 2034, Saudi Arabia should not only host the World Cup it should show the world what the future of sport looks like.”
Sports analyst Mohammed Al-Enezi told Arab News that just a few years ago technology in football was largely limited to VAR and goal-line detection systems.
“The World Cup has always been an exceptional event but the 2026 edition is different not only because of the increased number of teams or the wider hosting area but also because it represents the first tournament in history to serve as a huge platform for testing artificial intelligence technologies on the ground.
“The use of artificial intelligence in sports in general and football in particular is increasing to the point that it has become an essential part of the work system, from data and performance analysis to the development of services provided to fans and the media.
“As far as I know, all 48 teams competing in the World Cup received equal access to the tool. Hundreds of millions of data points processed to provide match analysis in different formats, including text, videos, graphs and even 3D visuals.
“This year, football was not just powered by players and coaches. Artificial intelligence played a major role behind the scenes from helping referees make better calls to giving fans a closer look at the game than ever before.”
According to the Saudi Hosting Authority for World Cup 2034, AI and digital technologies are likely to become almost invisible and innovation and technology will be central to the fan experience.
Dr. Samir Al-Bahkaly, an expert on innovation in artificial intelligence, told Arab News that the leap from 2026 to 2034 would not be about adding more hardware but about integrating smarter, faster and more transparent AI systems that elevated officiating to a new standard.
“Football will remain human but the intelligence supporting every decision will be significantly more advanced,” he said.
While AI is still regarded as an assistance to the match officials, could there come a time when referees are replaced by AI at a World Cup?
“By 2034, the technologies introduced in the 2026 World Cup will evolve from assistance tools into fully integrated intelligent systems that reshape the accuracy, speed and transparency of officiating,” Al-Bahkaly said.
The foundations established in the 2026 tournament would “mature into a more advanced, AI‑driven ecosystem,” he said.
This would encompass full AI‑assisted decision making for fouls, real‑time 3D reconstruction and spatial tracking, smarter cameras and transparent communication with fans and broadcasters.
He said that this transparency would help to rebuild trust after recent controversies but only time would tell if AI could ever fully replace referees.
