Premier League to Use Semi-automated Offside Technology from Next Season

Fans cheer ahead the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Fans cheer ahead the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Premier League to Use Semi-automated Offside Technology from Next Season

Fans cheer ahead the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Fans cheer ahead the Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The Premier League will use semi-automated offside technology from next season.

Clubs reached a unanimous decision Thursday on the introduction of the AI-based technology at a Premier League meeting, with the new system set to launched during the first half of the season, The Associated Press reported.

“The technology will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking,” the league said, “and will produce high-quality broadcast graphics to ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters.”

Semi-automated offside technology was used at a World Cup for the first time in Qatar in 2022. It has also been rolled out in the Champions League.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.