NORTHERN Ireland men’s football manager Michael O’Neill has been selected for this year’s World Cup.
Despite the disappointment of his team missing out on the global tournament this summer, the 56-year-old WILL be there, as part of Fifa’s Technical Study Group.
O’Neill will be one of a dozen technical experts in the body headed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsene Wenger has championed the ‘daylight’ offside proposal (Peter Morrison/PA)
Others involved will include former Germany and USA manager Jurgen Klinsmann, who led his home country to third place in the World Cup it hosted 20 years ago.
Under the guidance of Wenger and led by ex-Switzerland goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbühler, the Technical Study Group will also feature Otto Addo, Tobin Heath, Jayne Ludlow, Gilberto Silva, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Paulo Wanchope, Aron Winter, and Pablo Zabaleta.
The team of experts will share more and deeper insights into all 104 FIFA World Cup 2026 matches.
For the first time in FIFA World Cup history fans will also get real-time insights from the group
Guided by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger, the TSG will provide cutting-edge analysis of all matches at the competition while increasing and developing the understanding of the game across the world.
Jurgen Klinsmann said players need to adapt to the heat (Joe Giddens/PA)
Lead of Football Performance Insights (FPI) Tom Gardner will be supported by a team of football analysts, data engineers, data scientists and performance analysts based on-site in Miami and Dallas and off-site in Manchester (United Kingdom).
During the tournament, FIFA will share the most modern metrics and performance data in FIFA World Cup history with the worldwide TV and online audience as well as with the participating teams and their players.
Developed by FIFA’s FPI team and Wenger, the Enhanced Football Intelligence service will offer new and exciting insights to enrich the coverage and analysis of every game at the tournament through a unique set of both in- and post-match visuals presented as augmented reality and traditional graphics.
“The Technical Study Group helps identify trends in the game, prepare future generations for football’s development and contribute to making the sport more exciting by highlighting the qualities players will need in the future,” said Wenger.
“With an unprecedented level of high-quality data, the TSG will be able to describe, analyse and interpret what is happening on the pitch in a way that inspires both technical experts and football fans.
“We are not only collecting more data than before but also trying to strike the right balance between technical expertise and data. At the same time, we want to share our technical observations in real time during the tournament.”
The TSG will analyse all 104 matches at this year’s FIFA World Cup from a unique tactical position at the stadium or their dedicated performance suite in Miami.
Either way, they will have access to six video angles and thousands of data points live during each match. The players crowned in the tournament awards will also be selected by the TSG members.
The home of the TSG is the FIFA Training Centre, an innovative platform that is available to players and coaches across the world. In a first for the FIFA World Cup, fans will also be able to get real-time insights from the TSG through the FIFA Training Centre social media accounts and YouTube channel.