Premier League clubs vote unanimously for major new change to the offside rule – but it WON’T be ready for the start of next season

Premier League clubs have voted unanimously for a major new rule change at today’s shareholders’ meeting.

The new rule is set to be brought in next season, but will not be ready for the start of the campaign. 

It will impact how offside calls are made moving forward in England’s top division, and will come into effect after one of the international breaks, meaning it will be introduced as early as September or as late as November.

The top flight teams have opted for semi-automated offside technology to be brought into the Premier League, with the hope that this will speed up the process of making these decisions by approximately 31 seconds.

A Premier League statement read: ‘The technology will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and will produce high-quality broadcast graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.’

Semi-automated offside technology was first used by FIFA at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Its use was widely praised, with offside calls tending to be made quickly and causing minimum disruption to the flow of games.

Many expected it to be formality for the Premier League to bring it into English football last year, but they decided against introducing the technology.

Instead, they opted to focus on providing additional VAR cameras in a bid to reduce controversial calls. 

But there have still been a number of high-profile offside calls that have sparked debate this term.

The most memorable one occurred during Liverpool’s visit of Tottenham in September, when Luis Diaz had a goal ruled out despite clearly being onside.

The VAR for that game, Darren England, wrongly thought that the goal had been given on the pitch and ended his check, only to realise that the offside flag had actually been raised.

He did not intervene once play resumed, and Liverpool were not given the goal as they went on to lose 2-1 following a last-minute Joel Matip own goal.

It is hoped that semi-automated technology will increase confidence in decision-making and ensure no offsides are missed by VAR.

It is understood that extensive testing of the technology has been carried out this season, and the aim is for it to be used for some FA Cup matches next season as well, including the semi-finals and final at Wembley. 

Should the technology fail, manual crosshair placement will still be available as a back-up.

Referees will still have the final say on calls where there is a subjective element, such as whether a player standing in an offside position is interfering with play or not.

Wolves boss Gary O’Neil was left fuming by an offside decision that went against his side last weekend when Max Kilman’s 99th-minute equaliser against West Ham was ruled out because Tawanda Chirewa was standing offside and deemed to be obstructing the view of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski.

Fabianski’s view did appear to be slightly obscured, but looked very unlikely to have been able to save Kilman’s effort anyway.

However, referee Tony Harrington decided to disallow the goal. This was not a case of VAR technology failing to work, but a judgement call by the refereeing team, and the introduction of semi-automated technology would not change this.

More to follow…