Semi-automated offside technology to be used in English football for first time

Thu, 13 Feb, 2025 - 14:32

By Jamie Gardner, PA Chief Sports Reporter

Semi-automated offside technology will make its debut in English football in seven of the eight FA Cup fifth-round ties.

The technology will be used at all the ties hosted at Premier League stadiums, with the Preston v Burnley tie the one exception.

A statement issued on Thursday morning confirmed the Premier League would look to introduce the technology in its competition later in the season.

The Premier League hopes SAOT will reduce the length of offside checks by an average of 31 seconds.

VAR will be used at all eight ties, a joint statement from the Premier League, the Football Association and Professional Game Match Officials Ltd confirmed.

The Premier League has worked with technology provider Genius Sports on the new offside system.

The original plan had been to introduce it in the Premier League after one of last autumn’s international breaks, but those deadlines came and went.

General view of an FA Cup sign — The FA Cup fifth round will feature the new offside technology (Mike Egerton/PA)

Speaking last week, Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes said the technology was still on course to be introduced this season.

He said there had been “significant progress” made over the last four to six weeks.

“The system that we’ve adopted, we believe it to be the best system,” he said.

“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.”

Scholes insisted introducing it with potentially only a handful of games to go would not create an integrity issue.

VAR screen — VAR will be used in the fifth round (Steven Paston/PA)

“The operation of semi-automated offside technology does not change the integrity of the offside law and doesn’t change the integrity of decision-making,” he said.

“We have got 100 per cent accuracy (on offside after VAR checks) this season, so it won’t improve the accuracy. What it does is make the process more efficient.”

If the fifth-round trial goes well, there are no practical or logistical reasons that would prevent an immediate introduction to the English top flight, with all stadiums fitted out with the technology already.