FIFA supports the semi-automatic offside system to reinforce the VAR

The FIFA hopes that the deployment of its semi-automatic offside technology, which is being tested in the Club World Cup, will allow not only to speed up the decision-making of the VARbut help football fans with this rule of the game.

The optical tracking system was tested for the first time in the Arab Cup held in Qatar last year and FIFA hopes that it can be fully used in the World Cup to be held later this year in the same Gulf country.

The president of the FIFA referees committee, Pierluigi Collina, told reporters on Wednesday that the video assistant referee (VAR) system had been “very fruitful” since its introduction, but admitted that greater coherence was required.

“It is important that the VAR referees make a precise decision, but we are aware that time must be reduced, especially in offsides,” Collina said on the sidelines of the Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

“Sometimes a little more time is needed when the distance (between two players) is reduced,” added the former Italian referee.

The new technology is based on both television broadcast cameras and specific cameras, which give the exact position of a player on the pitch, offering the referees precise information in just a few seconds.

Currently, the system generates 18 points per player, following the different parts of the body to create a three-dimensional skeletal model, but the goal is for that number to reach 29 during the 2022 World Cup to be even more precise, said the person in charge of the FIFA football technology Sebastian Runge.

Once the decision is made, technology based on artificial intelligence transforms the images into a 3D animation that can be shown through the video screens of a stadium “to explain whether or not a player was offside” to spectators. Runge added.

Despite the increase in technology in arbitration, FIFA ensures that the final decision will remain with the main referee.