A tiny wave of motion wobbling along a screen brought Croatia players to their knees and sent Portugal through to the World Cup last 16 on Thursday night.
The Snickometer or ‘Snicko’ as it is more widely known, is technology invented by an English computer scientist more familiar to cricket fans having been used since the 1990s and has never had a more high-profile or controversial moment.
With Portugal leading 2-1 deep into stoppage time in Toronto, Croatia thought they’d fired in the most dramatic equaliser imaginable through Josko Gvardiol.
But their jubilation was brutally cut short. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) had to determine whether the ball had flicked the head, or in this case hair, of Igor Matanovic before coming off a Portugal player and landing at the feet of another Croatian – who was offside if it did touch his team-mate and onside if it didn’t.
The tension in the stadium was almost unbearable and most of the fans present were perhaps unaware of the advanced technology used to make a definitive judgement.
The VAR was given access to information produced by a microchip implanted into every Adidas Trionda ball used at the World Cup.
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Snicko showed the VAR that there was a tiny impact from the Croatian player’s head, meaning his team-mate was in an offside position and the goal was disallowed
It measures any impact through a motion-sensing device and fed the information back that there was indeed a small connection at the exact moment when the ball moved past Matanovic’s head.
To the naked eye, it looked as though he hadn’t touched it and the decision to disallow the goal not only enraged Croatia’s players but also a huge number of fans, many of which feel the extent to which technology is overreaching is ruining the game.
TV viewers of the match were shown the images the VAR was analysing and could see the tiny wave on the screen that was deemed sufficient to disallow the goal.
Snicko first appeared in football in the 2022 World Cup but instances of it being used to make a critical decision have been incredibly rare.
The microchip produces accurate, instantaneous data on everything, including ball movement, speed, trajectory, and touches by players.
In cricket, Snicko comes to the fore in almost every match to check whether a batsman has edged the ball behind the stumps.
The combination of noises at the crease and speed of the ball can make it hard for umpires to judge whether a player hit the ball, so slowing footage down alongside Snicko allows for a clear judgement call to be made.
Snicko was invented by English computer scientist Allan Plaskett in the mid-90s and introduced to cricket coverage by Channel 4 in 1999.
A microchip is placed inside the Adidas Trionda balls for the World Cup for real-time data
Snicko technology was first used in the 1990s and is a massive feature of cricket
FIFA adopted their own version at the Qatar World Cup in 2022 and it was again used at Euro 2024.
Adidas say the technology ‘enables faster in-game officiating decisions and more insight into gameplay than ever before.’
It has previously been used for various reasons during matches, including determining which player scored for Portugal four years ago at the World Cup when there was uncertainty over whether Bruno Fernandes or Cristiano Ronaldo made the last touch.
To clarify any confusion after the Croatia defeat on Thursday, FIFA put out a statement to explain why the equaliser had been disallowed.
‘According to the data provided by Connected Ball Technology housed within the Adidas Trionda, the official match ball of the World Cup, it was proven that contact was made by Croatia’s Igor Matanović in the build up to the goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to correctly determine offside and disallow the goal’, FIFA said.
Croatia were furious with the decision to disallow their late equaliser and they went out
‘IMU sensors housed within the Trionda ball are capable of determining any slight contact, displayed to viewers in the broadcast as a ‘heartbeat graphic’, and allowing officials an unprecedented level of data to make fast, accurate decisions.’
For Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic, the incredibly sensitive tech takes something away from the sport rather than adding to it.
He reflected: ‘All these decisions take you back and take the joy out of football. I’m not saying that VAR can be of help but it kills the emotions. It kills anything within you.
‘It isn’t easy to deal with all of this. Football should be fair and these decisions should be such but we’ve gone too far about VAR. Croatia lost the match and we are sad and I would like to congratulate Portugal but I don’t want to go into discussions.’
