Football fans can support their favorite players and teams this World Cup in augmented reality via Snapchat and Facebook.
On Snapchat, fans can put on virtual reality glasses with their team's colors, while virtual soccer balls float behind the user.
Furthermore, Fox, the official broadcaster of the World Cup, has sponsored a ‘lens’ that ties in with the big match between Spain and Portugal. On the front camera, fans can choose their team. The background segmentation transports users to the Fisht Stadium in Sochi, Russia. Using body recognition, the selected team's kit is placed on the body.
Users can also view the World Cup trophy in 3D in their own living room, and finally, their own space can be transformed into a football pitch, where they can shoot a football into the virtual goal.
Facebook offers fans even more options. Users can try on various virtual face paint, headbands, and wigs in their team's colors, while digital fireworks shoot above their heads.
Fans of Spanish football player Sergio Ramos can project these into their own physical environment via Facebook’s Camera AR feature in its iOS and Android apps.
Because football is undeniably the most popular sport in the world, the World Cup will dominate sports-oriented social feeds over the coming month.
The fact that fans have so many options to support their favorite team or player in augmented reality underscores just how mainstream the technology actually has become by now.