How is the ball speed meter at Euro 2024 designed?

The "connected ball" technology, designed with a motion-sensing microchip capable of tracking every touch at 500 times per second, will be used for the first time at Euro 2024 - the 2024 European football championship taking place from June 14 to July 14.

The "connected ball" technology, similar to the snickometer technology that has long been used in cricket, is being used at Euro, helping to identify cases of handball and offside.

Match balls are equipped with motion-sensing microchips that can track every touch at a rate of 500 times per second. This helps determine whether a player is behind the opponent's last defender at the time of kicking, or whether the ball touches someone's hand on its way into the goal.

The high-tech ball is a collaboration between Munich-based Kinexon, FIFA and Adidas. Over five years, 1,500 high-tech balls have been produced for the 2022 men's World Cup and 1,500 for the 2023 women's World Cup. Kinexon will also do the same for the match balls for Euro 2024 for men and Euro 2025 for women.

Because of camera shutter speeds, motion blur, angle of view, and resolution, using a system based solely on images is more prone to errors, says Daniel Linke, head of product strategy and marketing at Kinexon. The chip in the Kinexon ball can detect when the ball has been touched at a rate of 500 times per second, while standard broadcast cameras (used by VARs) record at 50 frames per second.

Connected ball technology, allowing you to determine the exact moment of touch instantly. Within just one or two milliseconds, Nn synchronizes perfectly with the video signal. Every time a touch signal is sent from the ball chip, the camera system's algorithms continuously work to assess the offside situation.

At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this Microchip helped the VAR team make real-time decisions.

Now, when these images are used to make key decisions during a Euro 2024 match, they will be made available to viewers via giant screens inside the stadium and on television to increase transparency within the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).