Semi-automated offside explained: Technology starts in Premier League

First things first, the name. Why semi-automated? Don’t be confused – it just means that people have to verify the decision of the system.

We have already seen Saot in the Champions League of this season and in the FA Cup from the fifth round.

When a tight offside decision goes to a VAR assessment, Saot boards.

Earlier, civil servants in the VAR room had to decide on three important things – when the ball was kicked, where and in which angle was the body of the defender when the ball was kicked and where and which angle the body of the attacker was at the time of contact.

Viewers at home have played this manual process with lines drawn with thread crosses on repetitions of Vriesframe that are shown on their TV screens.

All three of these decisions are now automatically taken by the technology to remove some elements of human subjectivity, such as which frame to freeze when the ball is kicked.

Tailor -made cameras are installed on all 20 Premier League stages under the roof to check a variety of important elements.

About 30 cameras – Working with 100 frames per second – Follow the exact movement of the ball and 10,000 data points on the bodies of all 22 players.

It means that it can be automatically determined whether the body of an attacking player was outside the last defender at the exact time that the ball was played.

Var -officials check whether the system has correctly determined the three most important points it measures before they confirm the decision. The officials on the field then inform the players.

A 3D animation of the decision of artificial intelligence is then played on television for viewers at home and on large screens in the stadium.

Until now, the officials have not spoken with the crowd, as has been Seen in the Carabao Cup.