After three years of testing, the new Artificial Intelligence-based Semi-Automated Offside Technology is ready to be used by the teams in the European Championship.
Most fans wouldn't have noticed it was there because it wasn't used at the Club World Cup or the Super Cup. We don't know how effective the new technology is until we see it in action.
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Two governing bodies are very confident. Soccer's governing body, FIFA, had already approved its use at the World Cup, which kicks off in November.
The ethos of using Artificial Intelligence to produce the result is the same as the two systems.
"For the good of the game and the good of refereeing, we always want to use the best technology available," said Roberto Rosetti. New technological solutions to improve the game and support the work of the referees are always looked for by UEFA. This is what we want from a semi-automated system.
The curtain has been pulled back and we know a lot more about the project. How will it work, what are the good points, and where will fans get frustrated?
The fixture schedule for the group stage of the European club competition.
Fans, players and coaches don't have confidence in the system. That is just for the beginning.
The technology says the player is not on the field.
What problems did football's governing body hope to resolve?
The frame rate of TV cameras makes it difficult to determine the exact point the ball is touching.
The furthest forward point on both defenders and attackers can't be applied consistently by the VAR.
All subjectivity is removed from these two parts of the process.
In some cases up to five minutes for complex decisions add to the frustration.
Supporters don't really trust the process now that it's working.
This is important for VAR. The average VAR review time is affected by the decisions that are made. It is very difficult to identify the correct line position. We will be able to save time.
The process outlined above is automated by SAOT. The semi-automated part comes in because the technology can't tell if an attacker is actively involved in play or if the ball was touched by a teammate.
Rosetti said that the system was tested in more than 180 matches. The system is ready to be used from the group stage of the European soccer competition. In a major competition, we are the first to introduce this new technology. The new system will allow the VAR teams to make quicker and more accurate decisions, as well as improve the flow of the game.
The system greatly improves the accuracy and speed.
It will be quicker and more accurate, according to the soccer organization.
Pierluigi Collina is the chairman of the referees' committee. I believe it's more psychological. We wanted to give a quick answer because we felt something was needed. Football is different from other sports and making a decision faster was important to us.
The systems devised byFIFA andUEFA are similar.
Both have cameras under the roof of their stadiums for the World Cup and the European Championship. The system knows the exact position of a player at any given moment, thanks to the 29 data points recorded by the cameras, which are relevant for an offside decision.
All player and ball data is processed in real time by the artificial intelligence, which will alert the VAR when an incorrect call is made. The referee can confirm the decision if the VAR confirms that the kick point is accurate and the player is active.
Things get a little different here.
The kick point of the World Cup will be greatly improved by using a sensor inside the ball.
There will be dedicated optical tracking cameras in each World Cup stadium. The cameras are all working together. The match ball will have a connected ball technology as well. There is a sensor in the center of the ball.
The information is sent from the stadium to the video ops room. The optical tracking system needs to collect 29 data points in order to detect the position.
The ball data stream will be provided by the IMU sensor, not the acceleration data of the ball in multiple axis. The detection of a very accurate kick point is important in very close and very tight situations.
An automated alert is appearing on a timeline inside the video operations room when we combine the different data sets by applying Artificial Intelligence. This is happening right away. The video match officials have a manual validation process that they use to make sure the data is correct.
The artificial intelligence will compensate for the lack of a sensor inside the ball.
The players are tracked but the ball is not. It works at 50 frames per second, the same as the offside tech we see in the domestic league, but it can't identify a change of direction.
The system provides a continuous flow of data between the frames and the artificial intelligence can interpolate both the player and ball movements.
It will be interesting to see if the system is as accurate as the one used byFIFA, with its sensor collecting 10 times more kick-point data.
The technical information of this aspect of its technology has been requested by the television network.
No matter how marginal, Collina believes that it's an offence to be on the field. Unfortunately the answer is yes.
The fear was always that a more accurate system would be developed. The VAR has a benefit of the doubt due to flaws in the process, such as how a decision is presented to fans. The benefit of the doubt will be removed with the result delivered to the VAR.
The goal is to have a technology that is similar to goal-line technology. Everyone praises the goal line technology for its accuracy. Everyone is happy and everyone praises the technology if the ball did or did not cross the goal line.
The evidence that a player was onside should be the same for the Semi-Automated Offside Technology. The technology should be applauded.
There is no difference between certifying that a goal was scored or not and certifying that a player was in an onside position.
As far as goal-line technology is concerned, the system developed by FIFA is as good as it gets. Goal-line technology is trusted by fans. Fans need to trust semi-automated offside.
It isn't that easy. Supporters view the ball crossing the line as a judgement. Fans dislike the close, marginal calls. The decision will be accepted, but the visualization element will have to do a lot of work.
When asked how strictly the tech would be applied, the organization didn't say anything.
The good news is that you've read about it.
Any other part of the project is equally important. It was very difficult for fans to see what was happening in the game, and now they will be able to see what is going on.
A 3D animation will be shown at the stadium and on TV. The referee will signal the decision at the next stop in the game.
The exact point on the attacker which is deemed to be in an ineligible position will be highlighted and a simulation will move in line with the players.
We use the same elements to create a 3D animation because we want to provide the best possible perspective to the football fans. Sometimes it's not easy to say if a player is in or out of bounds.
There's more good news.
The average time for a VAR decision to be made is 70 seconds, according to the sport's governing body. This can be cut in half with the new technology.
Twenty-five seconds is probably longer than those who had attended briefings through the trial process were expecting, but it still means that the majority of decisions should be reached during a goal celebration.
There will be a lot of times when it is quicker for the more obvious calls.
The VAR won't have to go through the manual process of setting up the decision because of SA OT.
There will be times when there are subjective elements. A player interfering with a game. Is there a deliberate play on the ball? Is the attacker in view of the goalie? Those decisions will take more time.
Is it possible that the first thought in a fan's mind is no longer the fear of a goal being disallowed or checked? Part of the plan is with the new technology.
If 25 seconds is enough, fans will be more confident in their goals. SAOT might not be the ultimate fix for one of VAR's major issues if the process is sped up.
Even with the tolerance level added to VAR offside last season, 44 of the 120 VAR overturns in the premier league involved inscrutable play There were 43 goals that were not scored.
The surface is only scratched by that. Penalties and goals have to be checked for legality. Most of the decisions are subject to checks. It will get quicker but will it be enough?
Many checks should be done in the background. We can't really judge the psychological impact on supporters until we see it in action.
Back to the bad news.
The past year has seen a lot of talk about decisions being made quickly. We haven't seen the end of the delayed offside flag because of the time it takes for the VAR to make a decision.
The payoff between the automated part and the manual assessment is semi- automation.
"I was told that it took four or five seconds to make the decision," she said. We will go from 70 seconds to 20 or 25. We can't get an answer in four or five seconds when the incident is easy to understand. This is not a good idea. It will be quicker. The objectives are listed.
There is an update to protocol that is unrelated to SAOT. Fans want to see more of that when the ball is in wide areas and the assistant referees have been told not to exaggerate.
The technology will alert the VAR if there are any potential false positives. If one of the match-changing moments covered by the VAR is a goal, penalty or red card, this information will only be communicated to the referee.
If an assistant referee doesn't flag for an offside before a corner or a free kick, the VAR won't alert the referee and the player won't be punished.
The premier league and other top leagues are interested in what's happening. It should be expected that the leagues will accelerate plans to bring it into domestic football if it goes well. It won't be until the next season, but at least there will be an end to the VAR process.
An additional VAR operator will be required to monitor the process, which will result in more expense for leagues, as well as the additional cameras.
VAR decisions affect every club in the league.
It's a phrase that Collina doesn't like because it requires the officials on the pitch to make a decision and then the VAR to verify what the technology says.
Collina said they have heard about robot referees. Sometimes this is good for headlines, but not always.
The match officials are still involved in the decision-making process because the semi-automated offside gives an answer only when a player is in an ineligible position. The assessment of interfering with an opponent is still the responsibility of the match officials.
In the past, the chief of global football development said he wanted the decision to be made by the linesman and not the VAR. That is out of the question, according to Collina.
It was easy to find a fully automated solution due to the fact that there is only the ball and the line. After analyzing the position of the players and their involvement in the play, the decision is made to call off the game.
Today or tomorrow, technology can draw a line but the assessment of interfering with play, or with an opponent, remains in the referee's hands. It is crucial that the referees are involved in the assessment of the play.
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