No more ‘Hand of God’ in the age of AI, tracking systems and smart footballs

What if Diego Maradona had faced England in 1986 with today's technology watching him? 

A referee body camera might have captured the raised fist; the connected ball could have registered the contact; VAR and pinpoint semi-automated offside tracking would have reconstructed the moment from every angle. 

The "Hand of God" goal would almost certainly have been disallowed. Under today's ruleset, Maradona would have been booked for deliberately using his hand to score, not automatically sent off, but football's most notorious act of deception would not have survived the replay.

Four decades later, the World Cup has become a global showroom for technology, from boots and balls to digital systems intended to improve officiating accuracy and fan engagement. Much of that journey begins not in stadium control rooms but in universities and research institutions. 

Dr Tom Allen, the editor-in-chief of Sports Engineering journal told Fox Sports, "FIFA closely monitors its work. Across two collections of studies so far, prominent themes include automatic player tracking, automated event detection and whether wearable sensors work reliably inside stadium environments."

That research is now visible across the World Cup in North America. Referee body cameras, FIFA's "Referee View", give viewers the official's sightline during goals and critical decisions. Optical tracking systems capture player positions and movement, allowing broadcasters to build three-dimensional recreations after tight VAR offside reviews and potentially show the game from entirely new angles, including a goalkeeper's perspective.

Player-tracking data can also create virtual avatars, technology being explored to expand audiences for what is already the world's most popular sport in terms of both players and fans. 

It reflects Goal Three of Fifa's Strategic Objectives for 2023–27: to "deliver fan engagement including through eFootball, and to invest in digital technology and artificial intelligence for the next generations".

Technology is also taking over football's boundaries. Goal-line technology, first used at the men's World Cup in 2014, determines whether the whole ball has crossed the line. In 2026, out-of-bounds technology is being used for the first time to identify when the ball has left the field for a throw-in or corner. 

Team officials now submit changes through a digital substitution tablet instead of handwritten notes, accelerating approval and communication with broadcasters while being "less sensitive to weather conditions" than a rain-soaked notepad.

The same push reaches the technical area. FIFA pledged that all 48 teams should "benefit from the same pre- and post-match analytical capabilities" through Football AI Pro. Using "AI agents capable of querying structured match data", the system can rapidly produce tactical insights, performance analyses and strategic recommendations. 

Researchers are also developing ways to track players and detect events automatically from ordinary broadcast footage rather than specialist cameras, an important step towards democratising advanced analysis beyond elite leagues.

Not every innovation has been welcomed without complaint. Some players say temporary grass pitches feel "more like an artificial surface". Research links playing surfaces with performance and injury risk, particularly for female players, among whom knee injuries are more prevalent.

Even the ball is a data source. Each World Cup introduces a new design, and Adidas's 2026 Trionda has four uniquely shaped polyurethane panels, the fewest ever used in a World Cup ball. Grooves, seams and raised eagle, maple-leaf and star symbols represent the three host nations while producing the desirable aerodynamics needed for predictable, stable flight.

Inside is a sensor sampling movement 500 times per second and sending data to officials in real time to support decisions. FIFA's football-testing manual includes a balance test to ensure that the internal sensor does not make the ball behave unpredictably on the ground or in the air.

Not every innovation has been welcomed without complaint. Some players say temporary grass pitches feel "more like an artificial surface". Research links playing surfaces with performance and injury risk, particularly for female players, among whom knee injuries are more prevalent. 

FIFA's latest football-turf testing manual includes a "critical fall height test", requiring sufficient softness and compliance to reduce excessive head-injury risk when a player falls from at least 0.6 metres.

Boots are changing too. Academic studies indicate that padding on the upper can reduce shooting accuracy. Some players are now wearing 3D-printed boots made with metamaterials, artificially created materials with unconventional properties, designed to improve fit and comfort.

Only a few may appear in 2026. By the next World Cup in Morocco, Portugal and Spain four years later, they could be commonplace, joined by innovations still at the research stage. The game remains recognisably football; what has changed is that almost every movement can now be seen, measured, reconstructed and analysed.