When Romy Gai, FIFA’s chief business officer, described the operational challenge of running a 48-team World Cup across Canada, Mexico and the United States, he was not talking about technology. He was talking about complexity. Previous World Cups relied on local organising committees to absorb much of the logistical load. For 2026, FIFA is running operations directly. Six billion people are expected to watch. There are 104 matches, up from 64 in Qatar. There are 48 teams instead of 32, 180-plus broadcasters, and no single national infrastructure to lean on. The scale is genuinely new. The AI strategy FIFA unveiled at Lenovo Tech World in Hong Kong this week is best understood against that backdrop. Football AI Pro, AI-enabled 3D player avatars, and a next-generation Referee View are the headline announcements.…