La Liga President announces change for offside decisions

La Liga President Javier Tebas has confirmed that there will be changes to the officiating of offsides from next season. Currently the offsides are officiated by the ‘Semi-Automatic Offside Technology’ or SAOT, but there have been instances where the system has failed to generate the required clarity.

It has emerged over the last 18 months that the technology struggles in certain situations where there is a high density of players concentrated in the same area. On multiple occasions the offside lines used by the SAOT have not corresponded to the correct player or correct part of their body, as it struggles to differentiate between players. In those instances, the VAR has been required to manually draw the lines onto the images, leading to further debates about the usage of the correct frame.

Tebas announces ‘automatic offsides’ in La Liga

Speaking at Las Rozas on Monday, as the Referees Union signed a new agreement with the RFEF and La Liga, Tebas has announced that from as early as next season, there will be ‘automatic offside’ technology.

“We’re implementing automatic offside, we’ll see if it’s ready for next year. Right now there’s semi-automatic, but I don’t like ‘semi’. It would involve putting a chip inside the ball, approved by FIFA, to detect it when it’s struck. It requires a special camera system in the stadiums,” he told Marca.

“It would be an automatic offside, eliminating the need for the famous frames. The approval process still needs to be completed, and we have to see which ball brands are used in the leagues… it all needs to be coordinated. But it’s one of the technological objectives we’re setting for next season.”

The Pau Cubarsi goal that never was

The most famous instance of the frustrations with the SAOT was a disallowed goal for Pau Cubarsi during the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. Beyond the decision itself, which was that Cubarsi was offside, it took the VAR eight minutes to come to the decision. The pause not only increased Barcelona’s ire, but also broke up the rhythm of the game, altering the contest.