The Premier League has announced that semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will be used from next season onwards.
In a statement that was announced on Thursday afternoon, the Premier League revealed how all 20 clubs agreed on the implementation of new technology to help decide what is and isn’t offside.
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A statement read: “At a Premier League Shareholders’ meeting today, clubs unanimously agreed to the introduction of Semi-Automated Offside Technology.
“The new system will be used for the first time in the Premier League next season, and it is anticipated the technology will be ready to be introduced after one of the Autumn international breaks.
“The technology will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and will produce high-quality broadcast graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.”
The Premier League are set to use the same cameras and software that is utilised by UEFA in the Champions League.
The technology has already been in effect in the European competition, which has been used to great success to find swift decisions on offside.
FIFA led the way in terms of using SAOT, where it was trialled as early as 2021 at the Arab Cup and Club World Cup before being used at the World Cup 2022 and Women’s World Cup 2023.
The Premier League hope to save on average 30 seconds per decision to speed up VAR calls, which can sometimes take an age to decide whether a player is offside or not.
One of the main criticisms of VAR is the length it can take to come to a decision, especially after a goal has been scored, thus suppressing any chance to celebrate.
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By reducing the time to find a decision as quickly and as accurately as possible, the hope is that all-round play can go on a lot smoother.
There is also hope that it will bring an end to situations where play goes on despite a possible offside before being brought back after several phases of play.
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Assistant referees have been told to keep their flag down in such scenarios but the new technology will provide them with a voice in their earpiece that will tell them whether or not a player is offside immediately.
After VAR was brought to the Premier League in 2019, offsides have had to be manually calibrated by referees.
It involves freeze-framing the exact moment the ball leaves a player’s foot before drawing lines on the recipient of the pass to decide whether they are offside or not.
But that now looks set to change with all clubs agreeing that a change was needed to bring the Premier League up to date with UEFA’s usage of offside technology.
SAOT has already been used in the Champions League, as well as the AFC Champions League this season and the World Cup at Qatar 2022.
