The Premier League will speed up offside calls with optical tracking tech starting next week

England's top-tier soccer league will soon use optical tracking to automate portions of offside calls. The Premier League said on Tuesday it will adopt semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) in live matches beginning on April 12. The league said the new tech won't change the accuracy of offside calls, but it will make them 30 seconds faster on average.

SAOT uses sensors from up to 30 cameras mounted high above the field in each Premier League stadium. They track the ball's precise location and up to 10,000 surface data points for each player. The sports tech company Genius Sports explains that the tech "provides more efficient placement of the virtual offside line, using optical player tracking, and generates virtual graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for fans."

Render of a Premier League stadium with cameras mounted around the upper bleachers.
Premier League

For the uninitiated, offsides is called in soccer when the attacking team's lead player is closer to the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-last defender. (The last defender is usually the goalie.) In recent years, the Premier League defaulted to the offsite Video Assistant Referee (VAR) team, which would determine the kick-point (the moment the lead attacker's teammate passes it) and add calibrated lines with a crosshair for the attacker and defender's locations at that time.

SAOT cuts a big chunk out of this (often lengthy) process by suggesting the kick-point and automatically creating offside lines based on the relevant defender and attacker's positions. The VAR team still has a chance to review the algorithm's suggestion before approving it.

At that point, a "decision visual" like the one below will roll for the fans in the stadium and those watching the broadcast at home to help clarify the call. The animation shows a white vertical wall representing the offside line, with a red (offside) or green (onside) line indicating whether the player crossed it.

Example of a decision visual from the Premier League's SAOT.
This SAOT decision visual shows the attacker's right arm crossing the offside line.
Premier League

VAR will still be available as a backup for offside calls. "Most offside decisions will be quicker, but VAR will still have the option to draw crosshairs as a backup to the SAOT system if required," the Premier League explained. "This process may be necessary in 'edge cases' where several players block the view of the ball or other players for the system's cameras."

This isn't the first use of the tech. The Premier League has tested it in non-live matches and in live FA Cup games. The BBC notes that SAOT was also used in the 2022 World Cup, Serie A, La Liga and the Champions League. The Premier League's version is a custom offshoot that Genius Sports developed with PGMOL (the referees' organization) and the league itself. Unlike previous adaptations, the Premier League's version doesn't put a chip inside the ball.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-premier-league-will-speed-up-offside-calls-with-optical-tracking-tech-starting-next-week-163327195.html?src=rss https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/the-premier-league-will-speed-up-offside-calls-with-optical-tracking-tech-starting-next-week-163327195.html?src=rss
Établi 24d | 2 avr. 2025, 18:40:32


Connectez-vous pour ajouter un commentaire

Autres messages de ce groupe

Etsy is selling online music gear marketplace Reverb

Etsy is selling Reverb, six years after it

26 avr. 2025, 17:30:05 | Engadget
Engadget review recap: Panasonic S1R II, NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti and more

New devices are still hitting our desks at Engadget at a rapid pace. Over the last two weeks, we've offered up in-depth analysis

26 avr. 2025, 15:10:23 | Engadget
How to watch LlamaCon 2025, Meta's first generative AI developer conference

After a couple years of having its open-source Llama AI model be just a part of its Connect conferences, Meta is breaking things out and hosting an entirely generative AI-focused developer conferen

25 avr. 2025, 22:50:14 | Engadget
Boox's new Go 7 E Ink tablets support handwriting with a $46 stylus

Boox, a company that makes E Ink gear ranging from

25 avr. 2025, 20:30:23 | Engadget
“It feels alive”: The Legend of Ochi director on the power of puppets

The Legend of Ochi feels like a film that shouldn't exist today. It's an original story, not an adaptation of an already popular book or comic. It's filled with complex puppetry and practi

25 avr. 2025, 20:30:22 | Engadget