Serie A To Deploy Semi-Automated Offside Tech For Napoli v Roma, Others

Semi-automated offside technology will be introduced to Serie A next month, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced on Monday.

In a statement, FIGC said that the technology, developed by the global governing body FIFA and used at the World Cup, will be used from the 20th round of matches on the last weekend of January after consultations with the domestic refereeing association AIA.

Those fixtures, which include Serie A leaders Napoli hosting fierce rivals Roma, mark the second half of a league campaign that gets underway again in early January following the World Cup and winter break.

The technology was trialled at February's FIFA Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi and last year's Arab Cup before being used at the World Cup in Qatar and the group stage of this season's Champions League.

It utilises both dedicated and broadcast cameras around the stadium to give the exact position of players on the pitch, offering match officials precise information within seconds.

The optical tracking system has the aim of making offside calls faster and more accurate.

Offside decisions have continued to cause controversy in the VAR era in Italy, with one extraordinary case penalising Juventus against Salernitana back in September.

A VAR review led to Arkadiusz Milik's header deep in stoppage time, which would have given Juve a 3-2 win, being ruled out for Leonardo Bonucci being offside and interfering with play.

The footage revealed later showed that Salernitana's Antonio Candreva had kept everyone onside but as the corner flag stood him he was not spotted by the VAR officials.

The decision caused outrage not just at Juve but among football fans and pundits all over Italy, incredulous as to how the decision could have been gotten wrong with so many cameras in place at the Allianz Stadium.

AIA said that the VAR officials did not have access to cameras at the time, which would have shown that Milik's goal should have stood.