Huge FIFA Club World Cup referee decision made as Chelsea seek enormous £98m windfall

FIFA has confirmed referees will wear body cameras in this summer's Club World Cup - a competition Chelsea are looking to win in the United States - in a trial run for the governing body.

The Blues are taking part in the revamped competition, that begins in June, as they look to take home the $125million (£98million) prize for lifting the trophy. It has now been confirmed that referees will be recording their every movement, with broadcasters able to show the footage to the public.

It is set to be an unprecedented move by as the governing body aim to offer a fresh perspective of refereeing to supporters around the world. Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, said: "It is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision which was never offered before.

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"It also had a purpose in terms of refereeing coaching. Because, of course, having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing, to evaluate how the call was made by the referee, which was his view, and so on. So it is a combination of new experience for broadcasters and also for coaching purposes."

FIFA confirmed on March 8 that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) approved a number of changes to the Laws of the Game for the 2025/26 season - with a particular focus on cutting down time-wasting tactics from goalkeepers. The change in the law means that if a goalkeeper has the ball in their hands for more than eight seconds (with the referee offering a five-second countdown), a corner kick will be awarded the opposition. These new laws will be in place in the .

Referees picked for the new-look competition have taken part in seminars organised by FIFA as part of the governing body's efforts to ensure the highest possible standard of officiating in the tournament. The most recent seminar took place from March 31 to April 4 in Zurich. Another session was held in Dubai at the beginning of February for officials from the AFC, CAF and the OFC, while an additional seminar took place later in the same month in Buenos Aires for CONMEBOL and Concacaf referees.

Collina said: "It will be a very, very interesting competition. [It's the] first time ever to have the best clubs around the world, from each corner of the world competing. So it's, I would say, an extra responsibility for us, for refereeing, because we want to have our referees ready in the best conditions when the competition will start. And we are aware that a high standard of refereeing is key to having a successful competition."

Chelsea are due to kick off their Club World Cup campaign on June 16 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The Blues were set to be playing Mexican side Club Leon, although they have since been removed from the competition. football.london understands there is no update on who will replace Chelsea's opponents at the time of writing.