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With the Club World Cup kicking off on Saturday, FIFA will be trying some new things when it comes to how referees will set up during the tournament. One big addition is that referees will wear body cams, which are attached to the earpieces that they use to communicate. The bodycams will be utilized during broadcasts to give fans a view of what the referee sees during a match and while the view will also be available for VAR use, FIFA head of officiating Pierluigi Collina doesn't believe it will be needed since the camera's won't capture anything that the referee can't see with their own eyes. 

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The camera angle won't be used in controversial situations for highlights, and while it's unclear exactly what that entails, this trial run will offer visibility to the broadcast that hasn't been seen before and is something that could end up being used more, depending on how it goes. Some trials like in-stadium VAR announcements, are becoming regular occurrences after a successful trial run, and this could be something that ends up having a similar impact. This change, along with others, were approved by the International Football Association Board ahead of the Club World Cup.

"We have said that we want to, let's say, offer a new experience to TV viewers," Collina said. "We want to show something, let's say, entertaining. I don't think that we always need to think of the controversial or potentially controversial incidents on the field of play."

The footage will be checked before being shown instead of being broadcast live, but it's one of many new initiatives that will be unveiled during the summer tournament in the United States. Along with VAR decisions being announced in stadiums, there will also be a shift that the footage that a referee is reviewing will be shown live in the stadium during the review.

Let's take a look at some of the other changes

Advanced semi-automated offside

While semi-automated offsides are nothing new to this tournament, there will now be differentiation between when something needs to go to a review versus a close offsides scenario. Each stadium will have 16 tracking cameras, and there is a sensor inside the ball, both of which together can track the players and the ball. The system will notify the assistant referees if there is a clear offside incident with complex or close offenses still needing to be reviewed by VAR and the referee in charge. This is a change that could cut down on the amount of time needed to review offside offenses but only time will tell the impact here.

An eight-second rule for goalkeepers

While there is currently a rule that a goalkeeper needs to release a ball within six seconds of picking it up, it may be the least enforced rule in all of soccer. To change that, there was discussion with goalkeepers to settle on an appropriate time that they need to hold the ball. That agreement was on eight seconds and if a keeper holds it for longer, a corner kick is to be awarded to the opposition. It will still be subjective enforcement with things like how much effort went into a save being taken into account, but something like that could see the pace of matches pick up due to keepers not being able to fall down and waste as much time.

The double touch 

There are now two different punishments for a penalty kick, depending on whether it was deemed to have been intentional or accidental. If it's an accidental take where two touches take place, the kick will be retaken with no repercussions to the penalty taker, but if it is deemed to be intentional, the penalty will then be nullified. After Atletico Madrid Julian Alvarez's penalty kick in the round of 16 of the Champions League versus Real Madrid, this one was a hot topic.