Play.
Juls is not a fan of the technology.
While Gab Marcotti sees some potential, Julien Laurens doesn't like the semi-automated plans. (0:56)
6:11 AM
The days of waiting for a VAR decision to be made are almost over.
The last two years have seen the trialling and testing of semi-automated VAR, which will allow for the detection of offside in seconds. It's ready for its first public outing at the Arab Cup which starts on Tuesday.
The goal is for the VAR to be ready for use at the World Cup in just under a year. The Arab Cup is a test event for the World Cup stadiums and is a crucial stepping stone.
It should be instant and more accurate.
What is the difference between semi-automated and fully automated?
Artificial Intelligence and data analysis is what football is looking to the future for. It's quick for the fans.
Three-dimensional models of a player's position instantly are created by the technology. Tracking data and sensor technology from camera systems will be used to improve the accuracy of the kick point, while a player's skeleton will be modeled to identify which part of his body is furthest forward.
Make sense?
The director of Football Technology & Innovation told the Living Football show that it was based on limb-tracking technology. "Semi-automated offside is when the VAR has to confirm the proposed line and kick point before the referee can make a decision."
The technology that tracks Skeletal- Tracking players during trials.
How will it work?
"It's a camera-based system," he said. There are cameras inside the stadium underneath the roof. The VAR and the replay operator can receive the data from the cameras almost in real time, because they are following the players and tracking up to 29 data points at 50 times per second.
The assistant VAR will be sitting opposite the replay operator at the dedicated insturment station at the Arab Cup.
The lead VAR will be able to see almost instantly if a player is in an ineligible position. The VAR should be able to determine quickly if a player is active and alert the refereeing team when the assistant raises the flag.
The only exception is when the VAR needs to assess whether a player has interfered in play, such as being in the line of the goalkeeper's sight or interfering with an opponent.
Why does VAR need to change?
The number of major mistakes in football have been reduced by the use of VAR, according to Pierluigi Collina, the chief refereeing officer. There are areas where it might be improved, and one of them is offside.
Sometimes the process to check a possible offside takes too long, in particular when the situation is very tight. The accuracy with the lines might not be perfect. For these reasons, a technology called semi-automated offside is being developed by the football club.
What does this mean? The frame rate of TV cameras used across all major leagues makes it difficult to determine the exact point the ball is touched by.
There are other issues. The VAR manually selects the furthest forward point on both defenders and attackers, which is inconsistent, and even the same VAR could make a slightly different decision if calculating a second time. subjectivity is removed from the process.
Fans do not accept the result due to the camera angle to the position of the players on the 2D TV image, while plotting players with 3D imaging on a 2D screen cannot be exact.
In some cases, the time taken to judge is over five minutes.
Supporters don't really trust the process.
The focus is always on two aspects. The kick point is where we hope technology can identify the moment when the ball is played. The second point is that we can identify the body part of the attacker that is closest to the goal-line.
With the help of technology, we hope to be more accurate.
The new VAR is visualized.
Why does semi-automatic things work better?
Well, it will.
Provide a near-instant decision if the need for a delayed flag is removed.
Most doubts about a goal being scored are over.
This would mean the end of the delayed flag. You will not see play continue for an extended period only for the flag to go up after the ball has entered the goal or the attacking move has ended. The flag will be raised before a goal is scored in most cases. The decision should be so quick that it would feel like it used to.
Will a semi-automated offside lead to the removal of the delayed flag? The technical director of lawmakers of the IFAB said that the answer would be yes. Fans hate uncertainty and it should be removed. Is he on his side? Can I celebrate? Is it a goal?
A goal being disallowed by a VAR decision will be extremely rare. Fans shouldn't even notice that the goal will be disallowed through the VAR, as the decision will take place in the background. That's the plan.
Fans can celebrate goals again.
In the premier league, a third of the 48 VAR overturns have involved inscrutableness. There have been 16 goals that have been ruled out.
VAR decisions have affected every club.
That doesn't scratch the surface. All goals and penalty decisions have to be checked. It can lead to a long delay while a decision is made. That could be over.
Is it possible to get back to a situation where the first thought in a fan's mind is no longer the fear of a goal being disallowed or subject to a lengthy check? That's the plan with the new technology. Fans will be skeptical.
Mark Bullingham, CEO at the English Football Association, said that semi-automated offside would be a real step forward. The fan experience is negatively impacted by having to wait for a goal to be confirmed.
If you have a situation where the assistant always knows if the players are in an area, they can make an instant decision that doesn't need to be referred. We're always looking to improve the fan experience.
We're not going to go back to the old way of having toenails.
Let's hope not. Fans hate the marginal offside decisions, and better technology will make them more precise. A balance must be struck between technology and decision-making.
The current technology will not spot all of the offsides that will be spotted by it. It would be more accurate, and we would have more marginal offsides that could be detected. It's a matter about the spirit of football.
"That could be detected" doesn't mean the technology will be used to take VAR back to where it was. If parameters are in place, there is no reason for the improved accuracy of decision making to bring back offsides.
It seems unlikely that the previous system would be changed to improve the visualization of VAR.
The new system will be able to calculate offside.
What can we expect at the Arab Cup?
This is the big one. Semi-automated offside VAR will be used for the first time in live games. In the past it has only been used in empty stadiums in test scenarios, and in the background at events such as the Club World Cup.
It's a crucial step to being approved and used at the World Cup, and now it's going live.
The system will be able to be learned how accurate it is, how reliable it is and any further improvements that are needed.
In Europe, we tested in Germany, Spain and England. We collected a lot of data and are working closely with the MIT Sports Lab and with Victoria University in Melbourne, as well as the ETH robotics in Switzerland, to analyse this data and we have a very good understanding of the quality of the technology.
Does that mean that semi-automated offside is ready?
This is still a trial period and it is being used at the Arab Cup in six World Cup stadiums.
The development process has been hampered by the coronaviruses, but successful offline tests were held at the Club World Cup events in 2019.
It could be approved for full use after a further test at the Club World Cup in February next year.
When will we see it in the league?
It will take a bit longer for the domestic leagues to get the technology.
The World Cup will be the first place it is seen in a major competition. The premier league and other domestic tournaments will have to wait until the next season in 24 years. The knockout rounds of the European competition may be able to use it next season.
Will the VAR be fully automated?
The chief of global football development at the world's governing body wants the decision to be made by the linesman and not the VAR. But, according to Collina, that's not true.
It was easy to find a fully automated solution because goal-line technology makes black-and-white decisions simpler. The decision is taken after analyzing both the players and the play.
Technology can draw a line but the assessment of interfering with play or with an opponent remains in the hands of the referees. The referees' involvement in the assessment of offside is crucial.
