Referees at the FIFA World Club Cup will wear body cameras for the first time in the history of the football.
The competition which is set to hold from June 14 to July 13, 2025 is set to feature the use of body cameras for the first time in the history of the competition.
The body camera is expected to give the fans the perspective of goals, free kicks, tackles and attacking moves from the view of the referee immediately after they happen.
It has been tested by officials in grassroots in England over the past two seasons in order to reduce the abuse directed at referees.
The Chairman of the Fifa referees committee, Pierluigi Collina confirmed the development on Tuesday.
He revealed that the introduction of the body camera will enhance the fans’ experience and help the referees to make better decisions.
He said: “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.
“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.
“So it’s a combination of new experience for broadcasters and also for coaching purposes.”
The cameras have been used for training purposes in grassroot football, and it was also tested in the Bundesliga, and in the Premier League.
The Bundesliga used a “RefCam” last season in a game between Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg to provide insights into the referee’s perspective and the work of the VAR in a short documentary.
In the Premier League, Jarred Gillett had his every move recorded when Crystal Palace played Manchester United in the Premier League for the purpose of a future documentary.
The referees, who have been penciled down for officiating duties attended a seminar in Zurich this week to prepare for the tournament.
Colina said that the referees are ready to embrace the extra responsibility that comes with the body camera.
He said: “[It’s the] first time ever to have the best clubs… from each corner of the world competing. 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.
“And we are aware that a high standard of refereeing is key to having a successful competition.
“We are following [and] monitoring their fitness and 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 starts rolling in Miami.”
The new-look Club World Cup will feature 32 teams and will be played every four years from the summer of 2025.
It is an expansion of the previous version of the tournament, which took place every year and involved just seven teams from around the world.
To replace the annual competition, an Intercontinental Cup will be played annually, and have the Champions League winner playing in the final against a team that comes through intercontinental play-offs.
The expanded tournament format was announced in March 2019 and originally scheduled to be hosted by China in 2021 until a postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
