This weekend’s Premier League action will see the implementation of semi-automated offside technology (SOAT) for the first time.
The technology is the latest adaptation to VAR with the hopes it will improve the speed at which decisions are made.
The technology has already been seen at the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2022 and 2023, while it has also been in use in the Champions League since the start of the 2022/23 season.
In February, the technology was used for the first time in English football during the FA Cup and will now be rolled out in the top tier moving forward.
Here’s everything you need to know.
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What is semi-automated offside technology and how does it work?
Under the current system, VAR officials are required to manually draw two lines on the relevant attacker and defender as well as determine the ‘kick point’ from which an offside call can then be made.
However, SOAT automates that process and provides VAR officials with the two lines as well as the ‘kick point’.
From there, the decision can be reviewed by the VAR officials before relaying an official decision to the on-pitch referee as well as those in the stadium and watching at home.
With VAR officials not having to manually draw the lines, it is hoped that the time taken for an offside check will reduce by an average of around 30 seconds.
During the World Cup, FIFA placed chips inside balls to help establish the ‘kick point’, but the English football will instead rely on cameras in grounds to track the ball’s movements at a high frame rate.
Why has it taken so long to be used in the Premier League?
In April, the Premier League approved the use of SOAT for the 2024/25 season and it had hoped to introduce SOAT after one of last autumn’s international breaks but that did not materialise.
Speaking in February, however, Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes insisted the technology was still on course to be introduced in the league this season.
‘The system that we’ve adopted, we believe it to be the best system,’ he said.
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‘We believe it to be the most accurate and the most future-proof system as well. I have to confess, given the difficulties that we had over the first few months of the season, I had severe doubts about this but the progress made over the last four to six weeks has been significant.’
The Premier League, however, will be hoping not to experience the same teething issues the FA Cup saw during their first weekend with the technology.
A congested penalty area ultimately meant that the SOAT technology was not able to be used, with VAR officials having to take a record eight minutes to come to a decision.
Afterwards, it was recognised the speed of the process and switching between technologies could be improved to try and avoid a similar situation in the future.
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