The Premier League is unlikely to introduce semi-automated VAR offside technology (SAOT) until next year as testing of the system continues.
Earlier this year, clubs unanimously voted to bring in the technology, which would reduce the time taken for a check by an average of 31 seconds.
The league planned to make the switch “after one of the Autumn international breaks,” with October thought to be the most likely timeframe.
However, in an update to clubs at Thursday’s Premier League shareholders’ meeting, it emerged that SAOT is not yet ready to be rolled out and it could be 2025 before it is — raising questions about the validity of introducing it at all this season.
Serie A was the first European domestic league to switch to SAOT, introducing it in January 2023 after a high-profile VAR error early in that campaign had seen a stoppage-time winning goal for Juventus incorrectly disallowed.
LaLiga became the second top European league to move over to SAOT at the start of this season, but there is no firm date for the Premier League to follow.
SAOT removes the manual element of placing the lines onto players and to pitch level, making it quicker and more accurate. SAOT also provides a much-improved graphical visualisation of an offside decision, rather than the current method of displaying lines on the broadcast camera.
Last week Leicester City boss Steve Cooper claimed an “awful human error” by the VAR was “hidden” following his side’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace. Leicester were 2-0 up when Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta saw his goal ruled onside by the VAR, with Cooper insisting the goal was offside.
“Errors like that shouldn’t happen and it’s why we’re changing to the semi-automated system,” Cooper said. “We felt very let down by it.”
The Premier League rejected Cooper’s claims, but he will have to wait for the introduction of SAOT.
Extensive testing and analysis was conducted throughout last season but the Premier League is not yet confident the technology is fully reliable and won’t use it live until it is.
SAOT was first introduced by UEFA for the group stage of the 2022-23 Champions League, with FIFA also using it for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The system used by FIFA has a chip in the ball for increased accuracy of the kick-point, which was also be present at Euro 2024. But England, Italy, Spain and the Champions League uses an AI method for the kick point.
The Premier League has suffered a number of high-profile offside errors recently. In February 2023, the VAR had failed to identify that a Brentford player was offside in the build-up to a goal at Arsenal. On the same day, the lines had been placed on the wrong Crystal Palace defender, leading to a Brighton goal incorrectly being disallowed.
And in September 2023, Liverpool had a goal ruled out for offside on the field at Tottenham which the VAR mistakenly failed to correct. However, the error on the Luis Díaz goal was primarily around communication rather than the technology — an issue SAOT would not be able to fix.
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