Asian Cup 2023 uses new offside technology

Semi-automatic offside technology to be used at the 2022 World Cup.

Semi-automatic offside technology (SAOT) will be used in all 51 matches, held from January 12 to February 10, 2024 in Qatar. This technology will provide additional support to the referee, in addition to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system. Four years ago, the 2019 Asian Cup in the UAE only applied VAR from the quarter-finals.

The AFC is the first continental confederation to implement SAOT at a national team tournament, following its debut at the 2022 World Cup. The AFC sees this as an important step towards improving the accuracy and integrity of refereeing decisions.

AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said: "The AFC is determined to lead the world in refereeing by adopting the latest technology. This reinforces the AFC's vision of creating the perfect game for players, teams and referees to shine."

SAOT has been extensively tested and is in line with the regulations and guidelines issued by FIFA and the International Football Association Board (IFAB). The system uses 12 dedicated cameras to precisely track the position of the ball and players on the pitch. All body positions relevant to offside are identified.

Previously, the VAR team had to spend a lot of time drawing lines and determining offside players but still created controversy. SAOT overcomes this weakness by accurately and quickly checking offside errors using AI. FIFA estimates that this new technology will help referees only take an average of 20 to 25 seconds to make a decision, significantly reducing compared to about 70 seconds when having to go to the sidelines to review the video.

The referee disallowed a goal by Japanese midfielder Maya Yoshida against Vietnam due to handball after consulting VAR, in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Asian Cup.

VAR will be alerted if SAOT detects an offside, then review the incident manually and advise the referee – who can still go to the touchline to review the incident himself. Once complete, the data points used to determine the position of the player and the ball will be created into a 3D animation that will be displayed on the big screens in the stadium, and also provided to TV stations to show to fans to ensure transparency.

The 2023 Asian Cup is considered a smaller-scale event but retains the best of the 2022 World Cup. Host Qatar hopes the tournament will attract a record audience and elevate Asian football to a higher position.

The 2023 Asian Cup consists of 24 teams divided into six groups. The teams will compete in a round robin to select the six winners, six runners-up and four best third-placed teams to advance to the round of 16. Vietnam is in Group D with the current runners-up Japan, Iraq and Indonesia.

Qatar is the reigning champion, having won the title once along with Iraq in 2007, Australia in 2015, Kuwait in 1980, Israel in 1964. Japan leads with four titles in 1992, 2000, 2004, 2011. Following are Saudi Arabia (1984, 1988, 1996), Iran (1968, 1972, 1976) and South Korea (1956, 1960).

According to vnexpress.net

Source