Chelsea set to be the first EPL side to trial new ‘robot referees’

Chelsea are set to experience the latest trial of ‘robot referees’ at next week’s Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

The Blues will become the first Premier League side to be involved in the trialling of the new technology next week when they travel to Abu Dhabi for the semi-finals.

The new limb-tracking system can make automatic offside decisions within half a second and relies on special cameras attached to the roofs of stadiums to create an animated skeleton of players through 29 data points.

VAR officials will receive a near-instant alert to whether the technology determines a player is onside or not.

They will then validate the proposed decision which will be relayed to the referee.

FIFA hopes to implement it fully in time for this year’s World Cup after a successful trial in the recent Arab Cup, which was also held in Qatar.

Thomas Tuchel’s side will trial the technology next week as they play one of Al Hilal, Al Jazira or Pirae in a semi-final on February 9, with a final or third place play-off to follow three days later.

According to FIFA, the new technology has the ‘potential to provide new insights for coaches, medical staff, and fans’.

The governing body also said the technology would enable backroom staff to ‘analyse the action from the point of view of a specific player on the pitch, scrutinise a match changing moment from the perfect angle or get a bird’s-eye view of the pitch.’

Johannes Holzmuller, FIFA’s Director of Football Technology & Innovation, said: ‘We strongly believe that access to this new data source can positively impact the game by optimising decision-making processes and increasing objectivity.’

‘However, we are only at the beginning of this development journey and possible use cases need to be tested thoroughly to assess the capabilities with a view to eventual implementation.’

VAR was introduced to the Premier League over two years ago but it remains an enigma and continues to divide supporters.

The technology has undoubtedly been key in making decisions but every incident has been scrutinised in detail, painstakingly so.

As a result, the enjoyment has arguably been sucked out of the sport – and the lengthy delays over decisions haven’t helped, either.

Any successful move to speed up the decision making process through technology could improve the reception of VAR by fans of the sport.