Japan proposes holographic World Cup 2022

A sample of the hologram project

Japan proposes a holographic World Cup
Japan, in its quest to secure the rights to stage the 2022 Fifa World Cup says it will broadcast games live in full size holograms.

But some technology experts remain skeptical about the viability of the project.

Japan, which is vying with Australia, Qatar, South Korea and the United States for the 2022 tournament, will find out on December 2 whether its ambitious proposal paid off.

The concept, which seems to have been inspired by science fiction stories, remains to be seen if the country can actually develop that kind of technology in ten years time.

At the heart of Japan's bid is a plan to broadcast entire games to stadiums on the other side of the world in what appears to be life-sized holograms.

Promotional videos, shown on the 2022 bid website show ghostly players chasing the ball while crowds of fans look on -- reminiscent of the classic Princess Leia hologram scene in "Star Wars."

“This is very aggressive planning, but I actually like it because they put a stick in the ground. But they are proposing something that doesn't exist right now and they're proposing to do it in 12 years,” said Professor Nasser Peyghambarian, University of Arizona.

Japanese organizers say each game will be filmed by 200 high definition cameras, which will use freeviewpoint technology to allow fans to see the action unfold from a player's eye view -- the kind of images until now only seen in video games.

Meanwhile on the terraces, supporters will be able to use in-ear computerized translators to talk freely to fans from other countries -- a device that mimics the "Star Trek's" universal translators or the Babel Fish of "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

"We think that now it's time to give something back to the world, and our starting point is to deliver the joy of football not only to the hosting country but all over the world," said Suminori Gokoh, director of the 2022 bid committee.

But with limited information on how they intend to achieve their goals, leading scientists in the field of three dimensional and holographic television have been left slightly perplexed over the proposals.

"The 'freeviewpoint' is definitely going to be feasible, there's a lot of work being done on that," said Phil Surman, a scientist working on 3D television projects at Britain's De Montfort University in Leicester. "But the rest is rather speculative."

While 3D broadcasts that don not rely on special glasses (known as auto-stereoscopic television) are currently possible, these involve projecting twin images directly at individuals. Viewers must remain in one spot or wear tracking devices to ensure the images are beamed at them.

Surman said while this is possible for small groups, it's tricky on a larger scale. "I really can't see how that can be done," he told CNN.

Professor John Watson, a 3D television expert at Aberdeen University, agreed it was unlikely on a large scale.

"There has to be head tracking, so if you move your head the images has to move with you and you're not going to keep your head in position during a football match -- you're going to jump up and down, particularly if your home team scores.

"There's also an obstacle with nausea, some people looking at these autostereoscopic displays can become disorientated, there are human factors like that which have to be taken into account."

Professor Nasser Peyghambarian, whose team at the University of Arizona recently succeeded in producing rudimentary moving holographic images, is more optimistic.

"This is very aggressive planning, but I actually like it because they put a stick in the ground. But they are proposing something that doesn't exist right now and they're proposing to do it in 12 years," he told CNN.

"I believe it is achievable. The only question that remains to me is, is it going to be affordable to the public?"

Jonathan Wilson, a football fanatic and author of 'Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics' said they will love it as long as they really care about the game.

While real-time language interpretation might be more achievable given that computers are already capable of handling basic translations, linguists speculate they could have trouble handling football's unique vernacular.

Damian Fitzpatrick, who runs a language website that focuses on the phraseology of football, said the idioms deployed by fans are often baffling to speakers of the same language.

"Some of my North American colleagues have difficulty with certain football phrases such as early doors, gatecrash the top four and, of course, why is it that parrots are the sickest of all creatures?" he told CNN.

Despite the ambitious scope of the 2022 proposal, there is one problem that not even Japan's scientists have come up with a solution to: how to silence the vuvuzela.