VAR, semi-automated offsides and connected ball technology - what will be used at Euro 2024?

VAR, semi-automated offsides and connected ball technology for the first time - here's how technology will be used at Euro 2024 this summer...

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There will be a Video Assistant Referee (VAR), two Assistant Video Assistant Referees (AVAR) and three video operators at all Euro 2024 games.

During the games, the VAR team will constantly check for clear and obvious errors related to the following four match-changing situations:

• Goals
• Incidents in the penalty area
• Red cards
• Mistaken identity

Here's how the VAR process will work, as described by UEFA's website...

The VAR team will check all match-changing situations but will only intervene for clear and obvious error. The referee can hold up play while a decision is being reviewed.

If the VAR review provides clear evidence of what appears to be a serious mistake in a game-changing situation, the VAR can then ask the referee to conduct an on-field review. The final decision can only be taken by the referee.

Image: Information of a VAR review process at Euro 2024 will be communicated within the stadium using the stadium screens.

The VAR is also able to consider any infringement that could have taken place in the immediate build-up to the incident (the attacking phase of play).

For 'factual' decisions (e.g. offsides and fouls in or outside the penalty area), the VAR can simply inform the referee of those facts and the on-field view screen isn't needed, but it is always the referee who takes the final decision.

The information of the review process will be communicated within the stadium using the stadium screens.

Image: The official match ball at Euro 2024 will feature adidas connected ball technology for the first time at the tournament

For the first time at the Euros, the official match ball will feature adidas connected ball technology, which sends precise ball data to video match officials in real time.

Connected Ball Technology for the first time at a UEFA EURO – providing unprecedented insight into every element of the movement of the ball and contributing to UEFA’s video assistant refereeing decision-making process UEFA

Combining player position data with AI, the innovation contributes to UEFA's semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) and will be key to supporting faster in-match decisions.

Connected ball technology can also help VAR officials to identify every individual touch of the ball, reducing time spent resolving handball and penalty incidents.

Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) enables VAR teams to determine offside situations quickly and more accurately, thanks to 10 specialised cameras installed at the stadium which track 29 different body points per player.

Introduced to the UEFA Champions League in 2022, the system integrates with the EURO connected ball to immediately identify the point of ball contact for the offside situations analysed.

Semi-automated offside is already used in Italy's Serie A and it was also used at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

It was also used in the most recent Women's World Cup and at December's Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, which was won by Manchester City.

The Premier League will use SAOT before the end of the year.

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Semi-automated offside technology is coming to the Premier League next season and Sky Sports journalist Pete Smith explains all you need to know!

UEFA has installed the goal-line technology (GLT) system in all the venues in use for the tournament. The system, in use in UEFA's elite club and national team competitions since 2016, deploys seven cameras per goal, using control software to track the ball within the goal area. Using vision-processing techniques and software, the GLT indicates if a goal was scored within one second of the action courtesy of a vibration and visual signal on each match official's watch.

From fixtures to venues, here's all you need to know about this summer's tournament...

READ HERE

Who is going to Germany? Countries have named their final squads for Euro 2024 and you can see them all here.

READ HERE

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