FIFA approves smart soccer ball based on Select iBall

Soccer is one of the most popular sports around the world and when it comes to professional soccer FIFA is where the world’s best teams play. FIFA is looking to end debates about whether or not a ball crossed the goal line during a game and remove some of the judgment calls from the mix that referees are forced to make. To do this FIFA plans to use a smart soccer ball that can tell when it crosses the goal line called the Select iBall.

The iBall is the ball used in the GoalRef system that FIFA has been testing over the last few months and has now been approved for use in professional soccer games. Inside the soccer ball are sensors that wrap around the ball in both directions. When those sensors cross the goal line the ball knows and there is no debate on whether or not it crossed the line.

The sensors inside the ball are nothing more than a web of copper wire that uses induction, allowing communication with an antenna array that is mounted to the goal frame. The second that the entire ball has passed the goal line, the system sends a signal to a watch that the referee wears allowing the referee to know the goal was made.