The 2026 World Cup Proved Technology Doesn't Fix Everything

Even with all the tech, the 2026 World Cup still got it wrong sometimes. VAR, semiautomated offside, and goal line technology were all supposed to settle football's oldest argument, whether the officials got it right. The 2026 World Cup showed that technology only closes part of the gap. Fouls, penalties, and card decisions are still judgment calls, and judgment calls still went wrong, sparked outrage, and in one case pulled a sitting U.S. president into a football dispute. Saying FIFA has fully solved officiating would be a stretch.

The Technology Did Its Job, Mostly

Give credit where it's due. Clean goal line disputes are basically gone. Semiautomated offside has trimmed a lot of the guesswork out of tight calls at the back. Compared to tournaments a decade ago, some categories of error really have shrunk.

But offside lines and goal line sensors only answer factual questions. They can't tell a referee whether a challenge was a foul, whether contact in the box was enough for a penalty, or whether a shove deserves a card. Those calls stayed exactly as human, and exactly as contested, as they've always been.

If nothing else, it's a good reminder that even the most sophisticated system still needs a fair, unbiased way to make the final call. On a much smaller scale, that's exactly what a random shuffler does for your Sunday game, settle it fairly before the arguing starts, not after.