Club World Cup officials get instant offside call

Club World Cup officials will use an accelerated semi-automated offside technology that will tell them to stop the game immediately if a player who is more than 10cm offside touches the ball.

It is one of the most significant initiatives being introduced for the 32-team tournament in the US and is aimed at reducing needless delays.

Assistant referees will receive the notification instantly rather than having to wait for the technology to check positions and distances – as is the case with semi-automated offside (SAO) systems used in most major leagues.

The introduction of the enhanced SAO comes a month after Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a serious abdominal injury after crashing into a post during their Premier League draw against Leicester.

He had been chasing the ball despite a clear offside that had not been given.

Among the other developments in use at the tournament, which starts on Sunday, are:

In the aftermath of the Awoniyi incident, team-mate Ola Aina said the injury “would never have happened” had the assistant referee raised their flag earlier.

The enhanced element of SAO will not work if a player who does not play the ball is offside, or in a crowded situation.

International referees chief Pierluigi Collina said officials therefore need to be “braver” with their offside decisions at the tournament.

“Since the very beginning we have told the assistant referee ‘in case of doubt, keep the flag down’,” said Collina, the Italian former World Cup final referee who is now chairman of Fifa’s referees’ committee.

“If you raise the flag, it kills everything, including the possibility that the VAR can help you.

“But we are aware this has led to some consequences.

“Probably the assistant referees went a bit far. What was a doubt became bigger and bigger and bigger.

“There are possible offside incidents where top assistant referees, as there are in many competitions around the world, would not have this doubt.

A new plan to speed up the game will be implemented at the Club World Cup and the European Under-21 Championship, in which referees will only allow goalkeepers eight seconds to release the ball.

After three seconds, the referee will raise their hand in the air and count down from five to notify the goalkeeper he has to release. If he fails, the attacking side will be awarded a corner.

Collina said it will largely be a preventative measure and that a corner was awarded twice in 160 games when it was trialled in South America.

“The referees should be flexible,” he said. “If a goalkeeper has the ball for 8.1 seconds it is not necessarily a corner.

As in previous Fifa tournaments, the on-pitch referee will communicate VAR decisions and the reasons for them to supporters in the stadium.

For the first time, fans at the match will be able to see the replays the officials are being shown.

However, there will still be no broadcast of the discussions in the VAR hub.

Collina urged patience for those who cannot understand why football is not yet implementing something commonplace in rugby, cricket and all major American sports.

“I cannot tell you if something more might be added in the future,” he said. “But we need to do it when we are sure this will not affect the decision-making process.

“When they are doing their job, which is very difficult, the VARs and the referees are under pressure. Knowing everyone is listening may add some pressure.

“We are a work in process. We have not to forget that, although VAR feels as though it has existed forever, the first match with it was 2016.

Fifa will show live images from referees’ bodycams, which will be attached to their earpieces, before the game, in the tunnel and during the warm-up and coin toss.

However, there will be no live images shown during the game and, although goals and moments of skill will be shown with a delay, anything controversial or in bad taste, such as a player suffering a nasty injury, will not appear.

Although the images would be available to VAR, Collina cannot see how a camera next to a referee’s eye would detect something the official had missed.

What it will do, Fifa believes, is show the game from a unique vantage point and “enhance the storytelling”.

To that end, it is an entertainment concept.