FIFA World Cup's high-tech ball just invalidated Ronaldo's 'record-breaking' goal

"No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of 'heartbeat' in the measurements. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows for a high level of accuracy in the analysis."

How did it happen? 

Ronaldo looked to receive a cross from Bruno Fernandes, who then appeared to flick the ball off his head and into the "record-breaking" goal. In what is likely to be his final World Cup, he claimed the goal and wheeled off in celebration.

Confusingly, though, the Lusali Stadium announcer had given Fernandes the goal while FIFA officially awarded Ronaldo the goal. 

FIFA later changed its decision and awarded the goal to Fernandes, Portugal, and Manchester United's attacking midfielder.

However, after being named Player of the Match, Fernandes acknowledged that even he was confused about who scored the goal.

"I celebrated [the goal] as if it had been Cristiano's goal," Fernandes said in his postmatch interview. "It seemed to me that he had touched the ball. My aim was to cross the ball for him."

"We are happy with the victory regardless of who scored. The most important thing is that we achieved our aim, which is to be in the next round," he added. 

Technology offers fairer play

In March 2022, FIFA revealed Al Rihla, the official ball for the World Cup in Qatar. 

With the help of cutting-edge sensing technology and VAR 2.0, it is the fastest, most precision-driven football the world has ever seen, capable of making decisions on the largest sporting stages with greater speed and accuracy.

The technology automatically provides accurate information, 500 times per second, on when a player has touched the ball, aiding in detecting confusing touches and information about tough offside calls, ultimately improving the accuracy and speed of VAR decision-making.

"And these [points] are measured with greater precision than the camera or the VAR's optical tracking system," Professor Ronny Ibrahim, from Qatar University, previously told Interesting Engineering (IE).

"Every second, this ball transmits 500 points to the video referee, so 500 measurements, and that's super..., super accurate."

Since the beginning of the game, human errors have added both entertainment and sadness to soccer matches. Some mistakes even resulted in nations losing World Cups.

"I believe technology is effective, not harmful to sports. I see it as making sports fairer," Ibrahim told IE.

"We cannot claim that it is completely correct. Of course, it's not even 99% exact, but it's as close as possible given current technology advancement."

The recent statement by the football federation may calm the nerves of football fans who were perplexed by the decision reversal during the Portugal-Uruguay match. However, more needs to be done to make the technological grasp of the audience obvious.