No more long seconds of waiting around the validation of a goal after a contentious situation concerning a potential offside position of the attacker? It is in any case the wish of UEFA. The body that manages European football competitions announced on Wednesday that the “semi-automatic offside”, a tool intended to speed up and make refereeing decisions more reliable, would be used during the Real-Frankfurt European Super Cup on August 10. and especially in the next group stage of the Champions League. PSG and OM and maybe Monaco will therefore be the first French clubs to benefit from this new technology.
UEFA is following in the footsteps of Fifa, which decided in early July to put this technology into practice during the World Cup in Qatar (November 21-December 18, 2022). This makes it possible to establish the position of the players and the ball at any time, making it easier to detect offsides without, however, replacing the judgment of the referees. “This innovative system will allow VAR teams to determine offside situations quickly and more accurately, improving the flow of play and the consistency of decisions,” said UEFA refereeing boss Roberto Rosetti.
“The new system will work using specialized cameras capable of tracking 29 different body points per player,” the European body said in a statement, adding that 188 tests had been carried out since 2020. “The system is ready to be used in official matches and implemented at each Champions League venue,” confirmed Roberto Rosetti.
