Arsene Wenger says offside decisions will soon be made by technology

VAR-Goal Decision-Offside

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that technology will make offside calls by next year.

The Frenchman who currently works as FIFA‘s head of global football development believes that technology is taking on an increasing role in refereeing decisions across the game, with goal-line technology and VAR already in effect across the world.

But according to Wenger, another technology is about to be unveiled next year at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The technology which is seen as the next step forward in refereeing will see the offside calls made by robots.

Speaking to reporters on the possibility of major changes ahead of next year’s World Cup, Wenger stated that VAR has been too slow in making offside decisions, insisting that the process must be streamlined by the time the 2022 World Cup comes around.

“We must continue to progress in the speed of decision-making, particularly in terms of offside,” he said to reporters.

“In 2022 at the World Cup, we’ll be much better able to make very quick offside decisions. And it will stop the game less because that is what the VAR can be faulted with. There is a real emotional lift, but after that, you have to know if you want fair decisions or not.

“There is a good chance that the offside will be automated at the 2022 World Cup. I am bound to secrecy, but this will be the next of the big developments in refereeing.”

Despite his criticism of VAR, the 71-year-old maintains that the technology has a positive impact on football and has resulted in fewer refereeing errors in big games.

“I think it’s positive in that if it was announced tomorrow, people would be against it. We realised in the decisive matches that the VAR was able to prevent bad decisions from being made,” he added.

“But there are things that still need to be perfected. VAR is a new process. The level of the VAR people may not be at the level of the referees. But it will come in a few years.

“There is an issue because it requires a lot of people and it is still expensive. VAR is a useful aid and it must remain to make more fair decisions. Before there were 93 per cent fair decisions and today it is 97%. So that’s hundreds of decisions over an entire championship. It is important.”