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Ex-Fifa official: Premier League told to implement new technology as Liverpool braced for 'massive' change
Keith Hackett has claimed the Premier League needs to introduce semi-automated offside technology for Liverpool and the rest of the league if it is a success at this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Uefa referee insisted that the Premier League must stay on top of the latest technology.
As relayed by Sky Sports last week (1 July), Fifa confirmed that the semi-automated offside technology will be used in the World Cup in November and December.
It had been trialled at the Club World Cup earlier this year when Chelsea won the trophy.
“If the Premier League claim that it is the top league in the world it’s got to be ahead of technology,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“What we’ve got to understand is that Fifa and the IFAB have experimented with this in Poland and Brazil and feel very confident that it’s accurate.
“What I like about it is it follows the goalline technology principle of keep the human being out of the process as much as possible.
“This captures those points on the body, 50 times a second, and is then able to project an accurate decision. We won’t see those nonsense lines drawn on by the assistant which is a positive.
“The Premier League’s got to bring it in as quickly as possible. They ought to be liaising with Fifa to understand it. They’ve already got links with Hawkeye, the team that’s helped develop it.
“I would think it’s a fairly simple task. The only problem is the number of cameras, 12 in the same stadium. When you think there’s 12 watching offside, seven at each goal end so that’s 14 then you’ve got the broadcast camera.
“It’s a massive change in refereeing. In my era, there were three cameras so this is what makes life more difficult for the modern referee, the interrogation of those decisions and at times they are made to look a fool when the VAR does not throw them the appropriate lifeline.”
In other news, a Liverpool 21-year-old has agreed terms with a Premier League club.