Football association Fifa and electronics corporation Sony recently announced plans to film 25 matches of the upcoming World Cup 2010 in 3D. Sony also pledges to incorporate 3D technology into a range of devices in the coming year.

December 9, 2009 — With the next World Cup looming fast on the horizon, Sony has announced it will provide 3D technology to Fifa, the organisation staging the event. The tournament, which will be the first World Cup held in an African nation, will take place in a number of South Africa’s cities in June and July 2010.

It’ll also be one of the first uses of 3D TV at a major sporting event — part of an established trend of trialling new TV technologies at large sporting events, such as Japanese broadcaster NHK’s test HDTV transmissions from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

There’s only one problem: 3D technology is still in its infancy as far as the consumer market is concerned. Sky plans to introduce 3D TV to the UK in 2010, and Channel 4, for example, has recently toyed with 3D broadcasts.

Sky is experimenting with 3D technology — here, we see a cameraman filming the opening to a football match using a two-camera system.

It remains unclear whether any TV stations will broadcast the matches live, however, and the “fan fests” planned for several European cities — including London — will only be showing promotional 3D footage, along with the games in standard, 2D format. The companies are also planning a 3D film using footage from the tournament, for which you’ll be able to watch trailers at Sony stores and other retailers stocking Sony products.

According to Fujio Nishida, President of Sony Europe, the company will bring 3D technology to a range of products in 2010, including TVs, Blu-ray players, the PlayStation 3, and the Vaio range of laptops. We’ll update you on individual product releases as they’re announced, but in the meantime, why not read up on 3D technology in our fascinating in-depth article 3D Technologies for Cinema and TV Explained.