Rostec's Facial Recognition System Deployed in 2022 Qatar World Cup, Sold to 36 Countries

A Rostec-made facial recognition system was used in 36 countries around the globe in 2022, including at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

"Speaking about the facial recognition system, it was put into operation for the first time in 2018 during the FIFA World Cup [in Russia]," Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov said on Monday.

"It is recognized as one of the best out there today," Chemezov continued. "In 2021, NtechLab was recognized as the most accurate in the world, especially given the terrorist threats."

NtechLab Chief Commercial Officer Liana Meliksetyan announced to TASS earlier that the company had already supplied 220 cities in India alone with its facial recognition products.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Moscow, NtechLab currently provides its products to 30 Russian regions as well as to 30 countries.

According to the company’s official website, "In a split second, they can recognize a person’s face in a crowd of thousands, track his or her location by the body features, or find all the frames containing the car of interest from all cameras within the network."

Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup between November 20 and December 18 at eight stadiums in five cities across the Persian Gulf country, namely in Doha, Lusail, Al Wakrah, Al Khor and Al Rayyan. The eight host stadiums were: Al Bayt Stadium, Khalifa International Stadium, Al Thumama Stadium, Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Lusail Iconic Stadium, Stadium 974, Education City Stadium, and Al Janoub Stadium.

The previous FIFA World Cup was hosted by Russia in 2018. The championship took place at 12 stadiums in 11 cities across Russia, namely in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

On July 15, 2018, during an official ceremony in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed the baton for the FIFA World Cup’s host country to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.