Football of the future and technology: what's new between VAR, virtual referees and Metaverse

The world of football has been facing various evolutions in recent years, the first and fundamental was the introduction of VAR but also the live streaming of sites bet has contributed to bringing fans closer to the matches, because while previously it was necessary to watch the matches on TV, today on specialized betting sites the results and statistics are constantly updated live.

Among the innovations that futuristic football reserves there is also a total use of medicine, supported by technologies to monitor the physical and mental state of footballers, precisely in light of the increase in the number of matches during the sporting year in light of the numerous international competitions.

But the most concrete innovations concern VAR and the Metaverse, in short, even if we are far from the robotic football proposed by the 90s video game Arcade Soccer Brawl, where the players were half-man and half-robot cyborgs, the future has already arrived and here's how these new perspectives will change and are already changing the most followed game in the world.

VAR between errors and technological changes such as the virtual referee

At the end of the first round, the designer Rocchi took stock and analyzed the errors made by the VAR staff and there were 8 in the first 19 matches and penalized (ironically) Juve the most. In total there were three errors that penalized the Bianconeri and two for leaders Inter.

In the near future, referees will be able to be monitored via cameras and notified in the event of an oversight by an electronic system to review doubtful episodes, or when they make a mistake, this seems to be the preview of an even more extreme solution: the virtual referee.

This solution not yet taken into consideration but probably already on the waiting list in the UEFA and FIFA projects, becomes even more concrete if we consider that football matches in the near future could be seen and even played in the Metaverse: how? We'll explain it to you right away.

Football in the Metaverse: virtual matches of digital footballers

Imagine predicting a Champions League match played between Avatar and virtual clubs that will be evaluated by bookmakers in the match schedule football odds, it seems impossible, but instead the 2023 European champion company presented the project to play in the Metaverse at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Manchester City project in collaboration with Sony envisages a virtual space where football 3.0 is played by digital androids, i.e. the Avatars, controlled by the users or by the players themselves, a truly fascinating hypothesis of the most unlikely futuristic realities, which has intrigued the present at the show dedicated to technology and electronics.

It goes without saying that every player has been faithfully recreated, as has the City Stadium down to the smallest detail. The aim of this project is to make football more engaging but above all to eliminate the errors made by VAR and referees, in short, by the human factor.

Coming back down to earth, before arriving at the total and definitive turning point that sees football played in the Metaverse, fans will be able to watch the match and therefore live a real experience, albeit in a virtual world.

The statements made by Yo Kikuchi who oversaw the project revealed that the app for watching City's virtual matches in the Metaverse will be released this year, but the dynamics of the relationship between the avatars, the stadium and the other functions are still unclear which will be included. In short, apart from a bit of confusion justified by the grandiose ambition of this project, one thing is certain: the future of football is in the Metaverse.