The Italian football league will implement “semi-automatic” intrusion detection technology months before the World Cup in Qatar following controversy caused by video assistant referee (VAR) technology last weekend of competition.
The FIFA-developed technology will be ready for use in the Italian league “in a few weeks” after being tested in recent matches.
The visual tracking system was tested at the FIFA Club World Cup last February in Abu Dhabi and last year’s Arab Cup in Qatar.
The system uses all cameras around the stadium, whether in the stadium or on TV broadcasts, to determine the exact location of players on the pitch, providing match officials with accurate information in seconds.
Specialized cameras allow the technology to generate 29 points on the body of each player.
Designed to make decisions faster and more accurate outside of the game, this technology has been approved for use in the World Cup in Qatar, which starts on November 20, and is being used in this season’s Champions League group stage.
A source confirms the news after Juventus were denied a stoppage time win against their guest Salernitana on Sunday in the league due to a controversial offside decision.
The video assistant referee (VAR) showed that Leonardo Bonucci was offside and blocked the goalkeeper’s view of a header by Arkadiusz Milik, which he believed gave his team a 3-2 win.
But footage that was later uncovered showed Salernitana’s Antonio Candreva holding all the players in a non-offside position as he stood in an advanced position next to the corner flag away from the court and the VAR room umpires couldn’t see.
The decision sparked outrage not only from Juventus, but also from football fans and pundits across Italy, who were amazed that the wrong decision had been made despite the many cameras at the Allianz Stadium. The Italian refereeing committee released a statement on Monday saying that VAR representatives did not have access to cameras that could confirm Milik’s goal.
But despite reports to the contrary, a source told AFP that the introduction of the technology “was not related to what happened on Sunday.” “We have already planned everything, and the cameras have been (at the stadiums) for several weeks,” he added.
