The 2022/23 group stage is now in full swing, with semi-automated offside technology making its debut in this year’s tournament.
The technology has already featured in and UEFA competition before, and was first trialled in last season’s Club World Cup back in February.
And this season’s UEFA Super Cup match between and also featured the brand new offside technology.
was the first Champions League victim of the technology when it confirmed that he was indeed offside after striking during away to Dinamo Zagreb.
Here is what you need to know about the system.
What is semi-automated offside technology and how does it work?
Semi-automated offside technology helps the VAR team arrive at the correct offside decision more quickly and in turn helps the flow of the game.
Specialist cameras placed around the stadium can track up to 29 different body parts of a player.
These cameras pick up 50 data points from the player’s movement per second to calculate their exact location on the pitch at any given moment.
A further 12 cameras are placed on the stadium roof to track the movement of the ball, which helps to determine if the attacking player was ahead of the last defender when the ball was played.
An automated offside alert is sent to the VAR officials, who run their own checks before passing on the information to the referee.
state the whole process should take just a matter of seconds.
Once the referee has officially blown for offside, the system will produce a 3D image to show the location of the attacker and defender when the ball was played.
This animation will then be displayed on the screens inside the venue, as well as being shared with TV to then relay the images back to fans watching at home.
Will semi-automatic offside technology be used in the World Cup.
FIFA have confirmed the technology will be used at the in this winter.
President Gianni Infantino said: ‘This technology is the culmination of three years of dedicated research and testing to provide the very best for the teams, players and fans who will be heading to Qatar later this year.
‘FIFA is proud of this work, as we look forward to the world seeing the benefits of semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup 2022.
‘FIFA is committed to harnessing technology to improve the game of football at all levels, and the use of semi-automated offside technology at the FIFA World Cup in 2022 is the clearest possible evidence.’
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