World Cup mystery solved: Mark Bosnich reveals what's on his iPad

It’s one of the great mysteries of the FIFA World Cup. No, we're not talking about the game's president Gianni Infantino going all Seinfeld on us with his white runners and suit.

Nor is it the fact the likes of Japan, the Socceroos and Morocco are still alive while four-time winners Germany, along with fellow strong European sides Belgium and Denmark, will be home before the knockout stage. The biggest mystery Socceroos fans back home want answered is just what the hell TV pundit and ex-Australia goalkeeper Mark Bosnich is looking at on his iPad.

'DISGRACE': Football fans rage over World Cup goal controversy

SHOCK CALL: Argentina coach drops bombshell on Socceroos

Viewers have become fixated with Bosnich's strong attachment to his device, which he clutches like a newborn child on the SBS couch as he analyses and dissects games. One fan tweeted: "Watching Mark Bosnich stare at his iPad in the post-match punditry is like taking your mate to the pub to just watch them stare at their phone." Another posted: "Must be something bloody important on Bosnich’s iPad …"

Even when Bosnich is not part of the experts' panel during match coverage, he doesn't seem able to disconnect with the outside world. He appeared on SBS's World Cup Daily – an evening program looking at the day's highlights – clutching an iPhone throughout his on-air stint.

Now we can give you the answer to this obsession – and the reason is not as salacious as some have suggested. "Boz has confirmed that on his iPad he has FIFA Enhanced Football Intelligence running," an SBS spokesperson told Yahoo Sport Australia.

"It provides him and the other guys on the broadcast couch stats and data. It’s a new FIFA feature for this tournament."

Mark Bosnich hooked on FIFA Enhanced Football Intelligence

Indeed, it is. The EFI was designed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wegner and is delivering fans – and the likes of Bozza – "an enhanced football intelligence service (that) will offer new and exciting metrics to enrich the coverage and analysis of every game at the FIFA World Cup 2022."

FIFA added: "These new statistics break down each area of the game into fine detail and provide operational definitions and multiple video examples to clearly define each action. This will enable an analysis not only of what happens on the ball, but also the movements and interactions around and off the ball for teams and players when they are both in and out of possession.

"The FIFA High Performance team (delivering the information) comprises football analysts, data scientists and data engineers, and has developed innovative technology to provide ground-breaking metrics and insights."

Wegner hopes EFI will help further educate fans and commentators, giving them access to information previously only available to team management. "We would like to share our vision of using football data analytics combined with technical expert interpretation to create a new football intelligence, allowing everyone to better understand the game," Wenger said. Bozza, scroll away old mate.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 is on SBS and SBS on Demand.

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.