World Cup referees debut live head-mounted cameras for pitch-level replays

The deployment shifts first-person video from a niche social media gimmick to a core broadcasting tool for major live events. For the streaming stack, it demands high-performance edge inference and hardware-accelerated codecs to handle stabilization and exposure control at the capture point. This creates a technical blueprint for the broader adoption of smart glasses in sports production, moving away from high, static angles to more immersive, data-rich viewpoints. Watch for whether FIFA eventually integrates these feeds into the primary world feed rather than keeping them as a separate broadcast tool for select partners.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup deployment follows several years of iterative testing across professional football. Per The Guardian, the Premier League trialed 'Ref Cams' during its 2025 pre-season Summer Series in the United States and planned a six-week domestic trial for several opening matches of the 2025-26 season. Previously, referee Jarred Gillett wore a head-mounted device during a May 2024 match between Crystal Palace and Manchester United, though that footage was reserved for a promotional program rather than live broadcast. FIFA also tested a version of the technology during the 2025 Club World Cup, which referees chair Pierluigi Collina reportedly characterized as exceeding expectations.

Technological advancement in this space is increasingly focused on reducing the physical footprint of the hardware and automating the production pipeline. Startup MindFly, which partnered with EuroLeague Basketball for the 2025-26 season, utilizes AI-powered bodycams embedded directly into vests worn by players and officials. According to EuroLeague reports from early 2026, these systems use cloud platforms to automate the editing of first-person highlights for social channels. In the World Cup implementation, FIFA's partner Lenovo installed dedicated servers at the Dallas International Broadcast Centre (IBC) to process the high-bandwidth 1080i signals, highlighting the infrastructure shift toward private 5G and decentralized processing required to manage dozens of wearable feeds alongside the standard 45-camera stadium setup.