FIFA, the international governing body of football, has announced the introduction of advanced semi-automated offside technology for video assistant referees (VAR) to be used at the 2026 World Cup. This innovative technology aims to make decisions faster and more accurate, potentially revolutionizing how offsides are called in football.
The new technology will allow an assistant referee to raise the flag immediately rather than waiting for a move to play out. If a player is more than 10cm offside, a real-time audio alert will be sent to the assistant. This is a significant improvement from previous versions of this technology tested at the Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup which only notified officials if a player was greater than 50cm offside.
Despite these advancements, the new system still has certain limitations. Firstly, it may not accurately identify the closest offsides. Secondly, it might face difficulties in situations where players are on the ground or when several players are too close together. Lastly, this technology is designed specifically for positional offside calls and cannot be used for subjective calls that require interpretation around whether a player has interfered with an opponent without touching the ball. However, FIFA assures that officials will remain in charge of when to raise flags and stop play. They can keep flags down if they suspect malfunctioning but failsafe measures have been incorporated into this tech to prevent errors.
Enhancing player safety & reducing frustration
FIFA hopes that this new development will alleviate some frustration felt by supporters and players alike due to delayed or incorrect offside calls. Moreover, it could reduce chances of injury due to unnecessary passages of play when an offside flag is eventually raised - as seen in May 2025 when Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi collided with a post after an assistant delayed raising an offside flag.
In a further step towards technological advancement, FIFA confirmed that life-like, AI-enabled 3D avatars of every player will be created to make more accurate decisions. This involves creating a digital scan of all 1,248 players in the 26-man squads of the participating teams. Each player will enter a chamber to be scanned during their pre-tournament photo shoot - a process that should take just one second. As a result, enhanced and clearer offside animations will be used at the World Cup. FIFA has also approved technology which can determine if the ball went out of play before a goal was scored. A chip in the ball will indicate which player touched it last, enabling VAR to check if corner decisions were correct as part of new powers.
Moreover, FIFA has expanded 'Real-time 3D Recreation' to make 'line-of-sight' judgements for offsides quicker and clearer with two virtual feeds replicating perspectives from both goalkeepers. This is intended to provide VAR an extra tool for making decisions on contentious 'line-of-sight' offside incidents where there are questions about whether the goalkeeper's view had been impacted. These advancements mark significant steps forward in football technology aimed at improving accuracy and fairness within games while enhancing viewer experience.
