Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Premier League, VAR, Football
Chris Byfield
The Premier League are set to delay a major change to VAR, it has been claimed.
It has been widely reported that semi-automated offside technology may not be launched in the Premier League until 2025.
The introduction of the technology was approved by Premier League clubs back in April and it had been anticipated that it would be brought in around the October or November international break.
Advert
Indeed, October had originally been thought of as the most likely date, that that is now unlikely to happen, while the technology may not be ready by mid-November either.
As per the PA News agency, during a meeting in London Premier League bosses sought to manage clubs’ expectations regarding the launch date, with testing on the system still ongoing.
At present the league believes the technology could speed up the length of the average VAR check for offside by some 31 seconds.
Advert
This summer the Guardian claimed that PGMOL had chosen to try a system developed by Genius Sports over the products provided by Hawk-Eye,
Officials hope that the technology can reduce the time to confirm offside decisions in the event of a VAR intervention by over 30 seconds.
Elsewhere, during Thursday's meeting clubs were given a largely positive update regarding officiating, while they were reportedly reminded about their obligations around player behaviour. The warning comes days after tensions spilled over in Arsenal and Manchester City’s heavyweight clash.
Advert
Furthermore, it has been claimed that there was no pushback from clubs regarding the league spending more than £45million on legal costs.
There was a broad recognition that such spending is necessary to uphold the league’s standards and is merely a fraction of the £10billion the Premier League is set to earn in television revenues over the next three years.