Digital twins of footballers and AI referees: Lenovo turns the 2026 World Cup into the most tech‑driven show on the planet
1,200 players scanned to the nearest millimetre, 3D avatars replace faceless models, a semi‑automated offside system now sees every centimetre of the body. AI stabilises footage from referees' body cams — fans will see everything without motion sickness. Technology levels the playing field: even countries with small budgets will have access to the same data as the giants.
As reported by CCTV+, FIFA is partnering with Chinese multinational technology company Lenovo to use artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies to enhance team performance and improve the fan experience during the 2026 World Cup. Santiago Manso, Lenovo's Director of Sports, explained how the company is helping to gather vast tournament‑related data — from team and official locations to social media feeds and weather forecasts. "AI allows us to extract valuable insights faster, make strategic decisions, gain concrete conclusions, and use it in other ways, especially through computer vision and video processing," he said.
Technicians are using AI to stabilise footage from referees' body cams, so fans can see clearly what the officials see while avoiding motion sickness. AI is also expected to help the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system make more accurate decisions. Instead of traditional photography, Lenovo has developed an AI model to create 3D avatars of players. "These avatars are digital twins of the footballers. We scan 1,200 players down to the millimetre. So you really see the players' hair, you really see all kinds of their body shapes. Scanning the players, having real digital twins of the players makes everything very realistic. So everyone will see that reality matches the generated images," Manso said.
These details could be crucial as FIFA introduces a new semi‑automated offside alert system sent directly to VAR. Previously, all players were represented by faceless humanoid avatars. With digital twin technology, the exact limb lengths and body dimensions of each player can now be tracked, leading to more accurate decisions and a better viewing experience for fans. Miles Spittle, FIFA project lead at Lenovo, noted: "Some countries can afford much larger data analyst teams, while others with smaller budgets cannot. So it's about giving people access to the same data and the ability to make informed decisions."
The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially kicked off on Thursday with an opening ceremony at Mexico's Azteca Stadium. The expanded 2026 tournament promises to be the largest ever: a record 48 teams, and for the first time matches will be held across three countries — Mexico, Canada and the United States — from June 11 to July 19.
A digital twin is an accurate 3D model of a real object — in this case, a footballer captured to the millimetre using special scanners. The semi‑automated offside system uses cameras and sensors on the ball, while the digital twin determines which part of the body was closer to the goal at the moment of the pass. Lenovo is a global technology partner of FIFA. Scanning 1,200 players covers virtually all World Cup participants (48 teams of 26 players). The technology aims to make refereeing fairer and more transparent.
Football has always been a game of millimetres. But those millimetres used to depend on the sharpness of a linesman's eye. Now, they depend on a digital twin and an algorithm. When a fraction of a second decides a goal, and millimetres separate victory from defeat, even the most perfect human reaction gives way to mathematics. Lenovo offers not just VAR 2.0, but a new philosophy: every player becomes a data set, every incident becomes a model, and the fan sees the game from the inside — through the referee's eyes, without camera shake. Football remains a passion, but its muscles and nerves are increasingly made of processors. And perhaps that will make the game fairer — at least for the World Cup.
