Ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, the game’s governing body has introduced a new, state-of-the-art semi-automated system for video assistant referees (VARs) to make offside decisions faster. This will give relief to assistant referees as they can raise the offside flag before the move.Under the new setup, assistant referees will receive a real-time audio alert in their earpiece when a player is more than 10cm offside – an improvement from the previous limit of 50cm used during trials at the Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup.The linesman still decides when to raise the flag and when to stop the play. If they suspect that something is wrong with the new system, they can put the flag down.The technology still can’t pick up the closest offside calls, and there are limitations if players are in crowded situations. VARs will still decide minor calls, crowd situations and subjective offside cases.This technology will be helpful for positional offside calls. “For positional offside, the information was via an audio alert that was sent directly to the assistant referee – and they could raise the flag. So we didn’t really have too much delay for offside.” FIFA’s director of innovation, Johannes Holzmüller, said during a trial of the system at the Club World Cup.FIFA hopes this will alleviate frustration for supporters and players, and reduce the chance of injury due to unnecessary passing of the game when a player is offside.In May 2025, Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Owini was put into a coma after crashing into a goal post during a Premier League match against Leicester City, a horrific incident that came as the assistant failed to raise the offside flag as protocol called for under VAR rules. Football’s governing body does not want such incidents to happen on the biggest stage.FIFA has confirmed it will create AI-powered, life-like 3D avatars of each player at the tournament – all 1,248 of them in the 26-man squad from the 48 competing nations.Each player will step into a scanning chamber during their pre-tournament photo shoot for a one-second full-body scan that captures precise body dimensions. It will give better and clearer offside animations in the upcoming World Cup.FIFA to introduce new ‘out of bounds’ and ‘line of sight’ technologyFIFA has also approved technology that can determine whether the ball crosses the touchline or byeline before a goal is scored, a call that was needed because Aston Villa’s goal was disallowed in a Premier League match against Brentford in February this year, with it unclear whether it had been ruled out of play. In the last World Cup edition, Japan’s goal against Germany in the group stage match was also due to an unclear call.FIFA has also expanded ‘real-time 3D entertainment’ to make ‘line of white’ decisions for offsides quicker and clearer, and to assist on-field referees.VAR and two virtual feeds will be available for TV viewers, simulating the viewpoints of both goalkeepers, another technological improvement to the game that fans can expect to see at this year’s World Cup edition.
