Al- Rihla: The AI-powered FIFA World Cup Soccer Ball at Qatar 2022

On Wednesday 30 March 2022, football’s governing body FIFA released a statement regarding the soccer ball that will be used at the first winter world cup currently ongoing in Qatar. 

The ball made by Adidas was named Al Rihla, Official Match Ball FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 making it the 14th one by the design company after the first one in 1970

Al Rihla means “the journey” in Arabic”, says FIFA in its statement, “and is inspired by the culture, architecture, iconic boats and flag of Qatar” but that is not the most exciting feature of the ball.

Although Addidas was criticized heavily for both the 2002 and 2010 world cup match balls the company made for being too lightweight or slippery, Al Rihla has a sensor and it is powered by a battery that can last for 6 hours while in use.

The sensor helps the match official to calculate accurately the ball possession, and the impact of each player on the ball as well as who touches the ball last. This has led FIFA and Addidas to issue a statement over the controversial goal of Bruno Fernades and Christiano Ronaldo against Portugal

Although the 2022 World Cup introduced the use of a semi-automated referee, the ball assists in the accurate calculation of who is onside and offside of the football pitch. The ball is used in calculating real-time goal velocity and spinning.

Well, while the advancement this year includes the use of battery-powered AI Technology, this is not the first technological advancement made by Addidas which has been the official football maker for the world cup since 1970.

While Al-Rihla has a 32 triangular panel, the last world cup in Russia also has a 32-panel, an advancement from a 16-panel from the previous world cup that used an 8-panel match ball.

Below is a table of the ball used at the previous world cup