The Premier League said it has tested semi-automatic VAR offside technology (SAOT) in recent weeks and has made "significant progress" and added that it still plans to launch a new system this season.
It has been almost a year since the club unanimously voted to advance the technology, which aims to reduce the time it takes for offside checks on average by 31 seconds.
The system is not ready at the start of the season, but should be done “after one of the fall international breaks.”
However, there is no information on the progress of the test, and as the calendar passes through 2025, it seems that Saot will not arrive in the 2024-25 event.
Extensive testing and analysis were conducted throughout last season, but the Premier League has not yet confirmed that the technology is completely reliable until it can use it.
Premier League chief football officer Tony Scholes revealed on Tuesday: "We are still testing it, but we are making significant progress." "We made it in this field when we talked to the manager during Christmas A lot of progress.
"Now, I hope we can introduce semi-automated technology sometime this season, but I've repeated the points a lot. If there are any questions, we won't introduce it about the root of its operations."
SAOT removes the manual element that puts the line on the player and raises the pitch level, making it faster and more accurate. SAOT also provides a lot of improved graphical visualization of offside decisions rather than existing methods of displaying lines on broadcast cameras.
FIFA and UEFA have used enhanced systems in the World Cup and the Champions League, which sees a chip inside the ball to better detect the ball. However, Adidas has patents for the system and none of the major European leagues use the company as a ball supplier.
Serie A is the first European domestic league to turn to SAOT, which Juventus suffered a victory goal from downtime after introducing the campaign’s high-profile VAR error in January 2023.
Laliga became the second-place top league to move to SAOT at the start of the season, despite repeated calls for its accuracy, including Robert Lewandowski scoring a goal in a goal that would not allow Barcelona to play against Real Sociedad.
Questions have been raised about the Premier League’s development of its own SAOT when other leagues have been introduced.
"We use the system, we think it's the best system," Scholes added. "We think it's the most accurate and future-proof system, and that's why we do it."
“In view of the difficulties we have had in the first few months of the season, I must admit that I am very skeptical about it, but the progress made over the past four to six weeks is huge.
“We believe we will adopt the best and most accurate system without the need for chips in the ball.”
Scholes also defends the prospect of going from a traditional VAR offside technique to SAOT for most of the season.
"This is a very fair question, and we have questioned it," Scholes admits. "But fundamentally, the operation of semi-automated offside technology will not change the integrity of the offside method, nor will it change," he admitted. The integrity of decision making.
"It's the role of it is to make the process more effective. So if we are true to this basis, that we don't actually change its integrity, then we just make it more efficient and you've arrived at a saying, OK, when you Absolutely confident that you are ready, why not introduce it.
"Obviously, if we weren't confident until the last two or three games, I think you then got to a pragmatic place where you just said it would make no sense to introduce it now. But if we could introduce it before that, this is What we are actively considering.”
Scholes also insisted that despite several notable mistakes, the referee standards have improved significantly this season. Statistics presented by the Premier League’s Major Match Events (KMI) panel show that the number of errors in 23 games after 23 games dropped from last season to 13 in the 2024-25 campaign.
He added that the Elite Referee Development Program aims to quickly conduct promising referees on the entire level, which has yielded results.
"These are the potential of the referees that have been identified and removed from any level that runs in the game," Scholes explained. "We are investing in them reducing the time it takes them to enter the league. Officials from the development team this season have already He hosted sixty-five games, and his level was higher than their operations.
"Two years ago, Sam Barrott was the first and second referee of the league. He is now on the FIFA roster. Then there is Lewis Smith, who played in four Premier League games. and the National League.
Scholes also revealed that the Premier League intends to announce the var ruling to the crowd at the start of next season, who has been tested in the Calabar Cup semi-finals. The Bundesliga became the first major European league to select fixtures last weekend.
Scholes added that he hopes fans in the stadium have "at least the same experience as the people in the family" when var, and the league's position is "to get to the place where we have full visibility and full voice between the referee and Val The conversation.”
The Premier League will continue to make changes through the International Football Association Committee (IFAB), which controls the VAR protocol.
Incorrect interventions (4)
1. AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Newcastle United, August 25
Dango Ouattara scores banned handball ('90 +2)
2. West Ham United 2-1 Manchester United, October 27
Matthijs de Ligt's penalties for fouls at Danny Ins ('90 +2)
3. Everton 0-0 Brentford, November 23
Christian Nørgaard
4. Nottingham Forest 3-2 Southampton, January 19
Chris Wood's goal is not offensive ('64)
Missed interventions (9)
1. Manchester United 0-3 Tottenham Hotspur, September 29
Serious foul game, Bruno Fernandes' red card ('41)
2. Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace, November 23
Dogso, red card not given to Ian Maatsen ('65)
3. Everton 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers, December 4
Abdoulaye Doucouré offside target ('72)
4. Nottingham Forest 2-1 Aston Villa, December 14
The fine was not awarded. Elliot Anderson Foul ('34)*
5. West Ham 1-1 Brighton and Hove Albion, December 21
Serious foul, red card not given to Pervis Estupiñán ('84)
6. Brighton 0-0 Brentford, December 27
Violent acts, red card not given to João Pedro ('75)
7. West Ham 0-5 Liverpool, December 29
The fine was not awarded. Alexis Mac Allister ('35) Foul
8. Ipswich Town 0-2 Brighton, January 19
The fine was not awarded. Wes Burns foul ('11)
9.Wolf 0-1 Arsenal, January 25
Serious foul game, Myles Lewis-Skelly's red card ('43)
*The panel said there may not be a penalty due to previous fouls, but it should be decided to review it.