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Referees, like Paul Tierney here in the Europa League, get technical help to identify offside
Photo:
Revierfoto / imago images/Revierfoto
With semi-automated offside technology, Fifa wants to make the decisions of the video referees faster and more reliable at the World Cup in Qatar (November 21 to December 18).
As the world association announced on Friday, the system will be used in the 64 World Cup games.
“We are ready to use it.
We are satisfied with the test results, we are continuing our work," said Fifa chief referee Pierluigi Collina about the new technology.
The new measuring technology for offside decisions was last tested at the Arab Cup and the Club World Cup in February.
A 500 Hertz signal in the ball and a dozen cameras that record the player's movements via data points enable the position of offside players to be recorded faster and more precisely than before.
The data is checked by a video assistant and forwarded to the referee on the field.
The creation of offside lines is no longer necessary with the new technology.
According to Collina, in addition to the more precise measurement, a considerable time gain is also hoped for.
So far, controversial offside checks would take around 70 seconds, with the new system you can reduce it to around 25 seconds.
The fans in the stadium should be informed about the decisions via video screens.
The length of the decision-making process has been a major point of criticism of the video assistants.
"We will train our video referees to use the technology," Collina said.
“Two weeks before the World Cup, all the referees will be there to put the finishing touches on.
We expect it to work as smoothly as with goal-line technology.”
Another help for the referees
Six years after the introduction of VAR, those responsible are taking another decision out of the hands of the referees.
However, Collina vehemently denies that this is the end of the flesh-and-blood referees.
"The term 'robot referee' is perhaps well suited for headlines, but it has nothing to do with reality," said the 62-year-old Italian: "If only the technology were relevant, it would be better for an engineer to take over my job.
Our main goal remains that the referee makes correct decisions on the pitch.
But to err is human.
Then the technology comes into play to prevent errors.«
It is still unclear whether and when the new offside technique will be used in the top international leagues such as the Bundesliga.
krä/dpa/sid
