The report says the system is available to all 48 World Cup teams, offering access to a broad range of match and performance metrics. Instead of relying solely on a large analyst department, a smaller nation could reportedly examine how an opponent builds attacks, defends set pieces or manages penalty situations.
That matters in tournament football, where one tactical detail can decide a knockout tie. Better preparation will not erase differences in squad depth or experience, but it could help an underdog arrive with a clearer plan.
The technology also brings a warning. Paul Salmon, a professor of human factors, has argued that AI is increasingly involved in preparation, performance and recovery. It can help teams study opposition patterns, assess player workloads and process penalty data far faster than traditional manual analysis.
But if every team receives similar recommendations, football could become less varied. Salmon has raised the possibility of tactical homogenisation, with coaches reaching the same conclusions and matches becoming easier to predict.
There is also an access question beyond the tournament. Kuksta warned that advanced video analysis and specialist technology may remain difficult for smaller federations to afford once shared support ends.
The immediate storyline will be whether teams use the tools boldly or simply confirm decisions already made by their coaching staffs. The longer-term test is even bigger: can temporary access create lasting analytical growth, or will the advantage return to the nations able to fund full-time departments?
The next World Cup may reveal whether AI has genuinely narrowed the gap-or merely given every team a faster way to study it.