Premier League announce big new change set to impact Arsenal, Chelsea & co

The Premier League clubs voted ‘unanimously’ to approve to introduction of new technology into the game.
Toby Bryant
By Toby Bryant
Published 11th Apr 2024, 13:59 BST
Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.
Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and rivals will have a new piece of footballing technology to adjust to next season as the Premier League confirms the introduction of a different way to judge offside calls.

On Thursday, the Premier League confirmed that clubs 'unanimously' voted in favour of the use of Semi-Automated Offside Technology. The system is set to be introduced at some point early in the 2023/24 season.

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A statement from the Premier League 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 official FIFA website provides an in-depth breakdown of how the technology works at football matches. The system required 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted in a stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player.

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Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.
Referees will be able to rely on new technology for offside calls.

The system was used at the 2022 World Cup with an 'inertial measurement unit' placed inside the adidas ball used in the competition.

FIFA explained: "By combining the limb and ball-tracking data and applying artificial intelligence, the new technology provides an automated offside alert to the video match officials inside the video operation room whenever the ball is received by an attacker who was in an offside position at the moment the ball was played by a team-mate.

"Before informing the on-field referee, the video match officials validate the proposed decision by manually checking the automatically selected kick point and the automatically created offside line, which is based on the calculated positions of the players’ limbs. This process happens within a few seconds and means that offside decisions can be made faster and more accurately."

Related topics:Premier LeagueChelseaTottenham HotspurArsenalFIFA

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