In the opening match of Group J at the 2026 FIFA World Cup between Argentina and Algeria on June 17th, Lionel Messi once again captured the global spotlight. During the 76th minute, Messi completed a hat-trick with a stunning long-range strike, helping Argentina secure a 3-0 lead. This goal made him the oldest player to score a hat-trick in World Cup history and tied Miroslav Klose's all-time World Cup scoring record, marking another historic night for the football legend.

However, another moment earlier in the match also garnered significant attention. In the 5th minute, Messi scored after a through ball, which was initially ruled offside. The broadcast then displayed a 3D digital model of Messi. This technology, part of the new semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) system, used three-dimensional animation to recreate the spatial relationship of the players' body positions at the critical moment, presenting the offside decision in a more intuitive and transparent way for viewers. This visual aid, followed by Messi's bemused head-scratching reaction, quickly became a viral social media moment.

Key Technology Behind the Scenes

While the hat-trick placed Messi in the football history books, the debut of his 3D digital avatar highlighted a significant technological shift for this World Cup: AI is making complex offside rulings more intuitive and understandable. As an official FIFA technology partner, Lenovo Group developed the 3D digital athlete visualization solution for the tournament. This technology creates a unique digital twin for each player, overcoming camera angle limitations to present offside scenarios with greater clarity and dimension, helping fans comprehend the referees' decisions.

The deployment of this system was a high-intensity technical delivery project involving player scanning, digital model creation, and system validation. Zhang Xiaoyan, Director of Technology Strategy and Innovation at Lenovo's Solutions and Services Group (SSG) and project lead for the 3D digital athlete solution, revealed that the system has automatically generated digital models for all 1,263 participating athletes, with a peak daily scanning volume of 235 players. Zhang provided a detailed account of the project's journey from conception to the global stage.

The Race Against the Clock

With 48 teams competing, the Lenovo team faced a strict deadline to scan, model, quality-check, and deploy the digital models for every player before their respective first group stage matches. This was a mission-critical task; the models had to be fully integrated into FIFA's SAOT system to enable precise offside replays during live matches.

According to Zhang, the scanning operation commenced on June 2nd and concluded on June 14th, successfully covering all 1,263 players from the 48 teams. The peak day saw 235 scans, with up to 9 teams being processed simultaneously. "From June 7th to 12th, it was almost a peak period every day, placing extremely high demands on our system's concurrency, on-site support, and backend processing capabilities," Zhang stated.

From a user perspective, the actual scan for a player takes only about one second inside the scanning booth. However, the entire process—including posture guidance, positioning confirmation, gesture adjustment, and on-site verification—averages about one minute per player. Staff were trained to guide athletes on details like arm angles, hand positions, and even sock height. "Messi was in great form during the scan. His posture was very standard, and the entire process from entering the scanner to completion took about one minute. It was very efficient and passed on the first try," Zhang noted.

From Scan to Screen

Following the scan, the real work of constructing the digital athlete begins. Each scan generates multiple high-resolution photos uploaded to the cloud for automated modeling. Zhang explained that the average build time for a single digital model is approximately 2.5 hours. After modeling, an automated quality check using algorithms takes about 7 minutes per model to ensure it meets FIFA's stringent requirements. Under normal conditions, all models for players scanned on a given day can be generated within 4 to 8 hours.

Contrary to what many might assume, the scanning was not centralized. Since the 48 teams were based at their own training camps across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the Lenovo team had to deploy mobile scanning units to each location. "All scans took place at the teams' own base camps," Zhang said. Each scanning site typically required a day for setup and testing, followed by a day for actual player scanning. Months of preparation were needed to coordinate with FIFA on site logistics, from ensuring ceiling height and stable network connections to verifying room dimensions.

The project culminated on the morning of June 15th (US local time) when the final batch of digital models was completed and delivered to FIFA. Zhang received a response from FIFA praising the completion as an "amazing achievement." For Zhang and her team, this recognition was deeply meaningful. "FIFA understands very well how complex this project was—involving 48 teams, 1,263 players, deployment across three countries, simultaneous multi-site operations, high-concurrency modeling, and strict acceptance criteria. They know how difficult it was to execute, so we were especially happy when we saw that email," she shared.

A Defining Moment on the Global Stage

The team's most profound sense of accomplishment came when the digital athletes first appeared in the World Cup broadcast. "It's hard to describe the feeling when we saw the offside replay imagery appear on the TV screen. Everyone was very excited, but at the same time very calm," Zhang recalled. The excitement came from seeing a year and a half of effort finally visible to the world, while the calm stemmed from the knowledge of all the sleepless nights and meticulous refinements that led to that moment.

The technology, tested at the FIFA Club World Cup and validated at the Intercontinental Cup in Doha, has now officially arrived on football's biggest stage. More importantly, it is changing how fans engage with the game. The 3D digital athletes present complex spatial relationships with extreme precision directly to the audience, serving not just the referees but every fan watching.

When Messi's 3D digital twin appeared on screen, for the Lenovo team, it represented the culmination of scanning 1,263 players, supporting 48 teams, a year-and-a-half development cycle, and countless late-night meetings. While Messi's hat-trick will be recorded in history, these technological innovations operating behind the scenes are quietly transforming how football communicates with the world.