The Premier League will introduce semi-automated offside technology next season in the hope of reducing the time it takes to make VAR decisions.
At a shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, top-flight clubs unanimously agreed to introduce the system, which is expected to cut the average length of a VAR check for offside by about 30 seconds.
“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,” a Premier League statement said.
Football’s global governing body FIFA used semi-automated offside technology at the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar after running a series of trials, including at the Club World Cup.
It is also used in the Champions League and in Italy’s Serie A.
Referees will still need to make calls on subjective elements, such as whether a player in an offside position is interfering with play.
The Premier League has not disclosed the technology partner it will work with and it is understood that no contracts have yet been signed.
The intention is to introduce the technology after one of the international breaks in September, October and November.
Premier League chief fears regulator could kill ‘golden goose’
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has hit out at plans for an independent regulator of English football, saying it could damage the league’s competitive advantage over the rest of Europe.
The UK government has introduced a bill to enshrine it into law and could attempt to force the move through before a general election, expected later this year.
A regulator will have a raft of powers to ensure clubs are sustainably run and the ability to block teams from joining breakaway competitions such as the European Super League.
Premier League clubs enjoy the biggest broadcasting revenues in world football.
However, top-flight teams have been at loggerheads with the English Football League (EFL), which controls the three divisions below the Premier League, over a new funding agreement for the pyramid.
A deal worth around £900 million ($1.1 billion) over six years for the lower leagues, and tied to future TV revenues, has been held up for months due to disagreements between Premier League clubs.
Teams in English football’s elite competition were warned by the government last month that failure to reach a funding deal would lead to one being imposed on them.
Masters, however, insisted regulation risks harming the Premier League’s status as the world’s most-watched league.
“As chief executive of the Premier League, my overriding concern is that the bill would reduce our competitiveness and weaken the incredible appeal of the English game,” he wrote in The Times on Tuesday.
“It is a risk that regulation will undermine the Premier League’s global success, thereby wounding the goose that provides English football’s golden egg.
“It is a risk to regulate an industry that has worked so hard to lead the world, especially when none of its competitors are subject to the same regulation.”
Concerns expressed by Premier League clubs have been dismissed by those working on much smaller budgets in the lower leagues.
“The gap is just getting bigger and bigger between the Premier League and the rest (of Europe), so the idea that the Premier League is going to be unduly constrained or no longer competitive, I just don’t even see how that argument gets to first base,” said EFL chairman Rick Parry.
