TECH FEATURE: The World Cup Ball That Needs To Be Plugged In

Football has officially entered its charging era. If you peeked inside the locker room before a World Cup match, you would spot an interesting sight alongside the jerseys and cleats: a row of official Adidas Al Rihla match balls plugged into power strips, charging just like your smartphone.
This isn’t a gimmick. Inside the center of the ball, suspended by a specialized suspension system, sits a tiny, state-of-the-art motion sensor.
This clever little chip tracks the ball’s exact position in real time, logging every single kick, pass, and touch at a staggering 500 times per second.
To keep this live data streaming straight to the offside officials and the VAR room, the ball relies on...