The new technology will use 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position on the pitch.

The 29 collected data points include all limbs and extremities that are relevant for making offside calls.

Additionally inertia measurement unit (IMU) sensors inside match balls will send data to the video operation room 500 times per second, allowing a precise detection of the kick point for any potential offside occurrences at the World Cup, due to start on November 21 and conclude with the final on December 18.

By combining the limb- and ball-tracking data and applying artificial intelligence, the new technology provides an automated offside alert to the video match officials inside the video operation room whenever the ball is received by an attacker who was in an offside position at the moment the ball was played by a team-mate.

Before informing the on-field referee, the video match officials validate the proposed decision by manually checking the automatically selected kick point and the automatically created offside line, which is based on the calculated positions of the players’ limbs.

This process happens within a few seconds and means that offside decisions can be made faster and more accurately.

After the decision has been confirmed by the video match officials and the referee on the pitch the  same positional data points that were used to make the decision are then generated into a 3D animation that details the position of the players’ limbs at the moment the ball was played.

This 3D animation, which will show the best possible perspectives for an offside situation, will then be shown on the giant screens in the stadium and will also be made available to FIFA’s broadcast partners to inform all spectators in the clearest possible way.

The workflow of semi-automated offside technology and the connected ball technology have been successfully trialled at numerous test events and live at FIFA tournaments, including last year's FIFA Arab Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

During these matches, the new technology was able to support the video match officials by helping them to make more accurate and more reproducible offside decisions in a shorter period of time.

The data collected during online and offline tests has been analysed and validated by the MIT Sports Lab, with TRACK at Victoria University scientifically validating the limb-tracking technology.

More tests will be conducted in the coming months to fine-tune the system.

Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said: "VAR (video assistant referee) has already had a very positive impact on football and we can see that the number of major mistakes has already been dramatically reduced.

"We expect that semi-automated offside technology can take us a step further.

"We are aware that sometimes the process to check a possible offside takes too long, especially when the offside incident is very tight.

"This is where semi-automated offside technology comes in – to offer faster and more accurate decisions.

"The testing has been a major success and we are very confident that, in Qatar, we will have a very valuable support tool to help referees and assistant referees make the best and most correct decision on the field of play.

"I know that someone called it ‘robot offside’; it’s not.

"The referees and the assistant referees are still responsible for the decision on the field of play.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino added: "At the FIFA World Cup in 2018, FIFA took the brave step to use VAR technology on the world’s biggest stage, and it has proven to be an undisputable success,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

"Semi-automated offside technology is an evolution of the VAR systems that have been implemented across the world.

"This technology is the culmination of three years of dedicated research and testing to provide the very best for the teams, players and fans who will be heading to Qatar later this year, and FIFA is proud of this work, as we look forward to the world seeing the benefits of semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup 2022."

Johannes Holzmüller, FIFA director of football technology and innovation, commented: "We will have the semi-automated offside set-up with 12 cameras and the official match ball with connected ball technology in all stadiums at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

"The new technology will provide the video match officials with real-time offside alerts using artificial intelligence.

"As the video match officials will be quality-controlling these outputs, we still refer to the system as ‘semi-automated offside’ as the video match officials have to validate the proposed decision and then inform the on-field referee.

"By using the exact same data to create a 3D animation for in-stadium fans and TV viewers, fans will receive a quick and accurate visualisation of the offside situation."