This is not the first time Palace have been at the forefront of the use of technology within the modern game, as the FA Cup third-round tie against rivals Brighton & Hove Albion in 2018 saw the first use of VAR in a competitive fixture in the UK.
VAR as we know it has since come on leaps and bounds since then, controversial decisions notwithstanding, and has gained a new component to bolster its capability in the form of semi-automated offside technology.
What is semi-automated offside technology?
After first being trialled in 2021 during the FIFA Club World Cup, before being properly rolled out at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, semi-automated offside technology is a tool designed to automates key elements of the offside decision-making process for the match officials.
Premier League clubs unanimously agreed to the implementation of the technology at the start of the season, though its roll out has been delayed until now. It has previously been in use in the fifth round of the FA Cup on domestic soil - including Palace’s 3-1 win against Millwall.
The operation of semi-automated offside technology does not change the accuracy of the decision-making but enhances the speed of the process. It will provide more efficient placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, to speed up the current process of determining whether a player is offside.
