FROM NERVIÓN TO QATAR: FIFA'S TESTING STATION

The World Cup in Qatar is approaching and all tests will move from the labs to the playing field. FIFA doesn't stand still, it is a dynamic organisation always looking to evolve so that football is adapted to the changing times, the new era of technology and that it makes use of the new resources to try to make the sport fairer. Just a few months prior, FIFA were back at the Sánchez-Pizjuán making use of the facilities to celebrate the FIFA EPTS Event, an event in which a series of tests were carried out to adapt football to today's technology.

One of the headaches in this respect has been and still is to apply the controversial offside rule more rigorously and in the shortest possible time. This rule, as seen in the following report, has evolved throughout the history of football, always with the aim in favouring entertainment and increasing, although it may seem paradoxical, the number of goals. However, there has never been a time at which it hasn't provoked controversy. With various tinges and other notable changes, such as the introduction of VAR, it has not been free of controversy and modifications in the short time it has been in force.

It is therefore seeking to take the next step. The goal is to implement automated offside, without human intervention...eliminating the possibility of errors. But this is no easy feat and it requires a lot of testing so that everything runs like clockwork. Director of sporting development at FIFA, Arsene Wenger, is fixated on the idea. The Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán was the setting for the testing execution. In the last year Nervión has turned itself into the technological epicentre of many companies in charge of fine-tuning their methods to make the FIFA dream a reality. It will only be a short amount of time before we see these changes put into place.