How the chip on the ball that canceled Croatia's goal against Portugal works

Portugal beat Croatia 2-1, in a comeback, this Thursday (2), and guaranteed a place in the round of 16 of the World Cup. The classification, however, was only confirmed after the Croatian equalizer, scored in stoppage time, was disallowed with the aid of semi-automatic offside technology.

After coming up behind on the scoreboard, the Portuguese team equalized with a penalty converted by Cristiano Ronaldo and turned it around in stoppage time with Gonçalo Ramos. In the 57th minute of the second half, two more than the time initially indicated by the referee, Croatia found the net again.

The Croatian celebration, however, was short-lived. The semi-automatic offside system detected Pasalic's irregular position at the origin of the move and, after VAR confirmation, the goal was disallowed, guaranteeing Portugal's qualification to face Spain.

See the timing of the VAR review:

https://admin.cnnbrasil.com.br/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2026/07/gol-anulado-chip-croacia-portugal.mp4

How does the technology work?
The semi-automatic offside system uses a sensor installed in the center of the ball to accurately record the exact moment it is touched by a player.

At the same time, 12 cameras distributed throughout the stadium continuously monitor the athletes' movement. They capture 29 points on each player's body up to 50 times per second, allowing them to accurately identify their position on the field.

The data from the cameras is crossed with the information sent by the ball's sensor. When the system identifies that an athlete received the pass in an irregular position, an automatic alert is sent to the VAR cabin.

The final decision, however, remains that of the video referees. They analyze the play and manually validate the offside based on the information provided by technology, making the process faster and more accurate.

After confirmation, the system generates a 3D animation that shows the position of the players at the exact moment of the pass, allowing the infraction to be seen clearly during the transmission.

Portugal x Spain
Classified to the round of 16, Portugal faces Spain next Monday (6), at 4pm (Brasília time), at the Dallas Stadium.

Without Germany, Brazil remains at the top of the list of World Cup champions

Source: CNN