The Premier League will implement semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) for the first time on Saturday, April 12, aiming to enhance speed, efficiency, and consistency in offside decision-making.
This decision follows non-live testing within the Premier League and its debut in English football during the FA Cup fifth round in late February.
A new era for offside calls
Semi-automated offside technology is designed to streamline the process of making tight offside calls, automating key parts of the decision-making for officials.
The Premier League stated that the technology “enhances the speed, efficiency, and consistency of offside decision-making” by automating crucial elements of the offside decision process to support the video assistant referee (VAR).
The technology was initially used at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and has since been implemented in Serie A, La Liga, and the Champions League.
The first Premier League match to use the technology will be Manchester City’s home game against Crystal Palace.
The system aims to reduce human subjectivity by automating decisions previously made by officials.
Currently, when a player scores in a borderline offside situation, VAR officials must determine three things: the exact moment the ball was kicked, the position and angle of the defender’s body at that moment, and the position and angle of the attacker’s body.
How it works
The new technology will automate all three of these determinations.
Bespoke cameras, installed beneath the roof of all 20 Premier League stadiums, will monitor these key elements.
These cameras will track the ball’s precise movement and 10,000 surface mesh data points on each player’s body. This allows for automatic determination of whether an attacking player’s body was beyond the last defender’s at the exact moment the ball was played.
Artificial intelligence (AI) manages the process, monitoring ball and player movement to determine whether a player was onside or offside.
VAR officials will verify the system’s accuracy before confirming the decision, and on-field officials will then inform the players.
A 3D animation of the AI’s decision will be shown on television for viewers and on big screens in the stadium.
