Automated offside decisions possible at Qatar World Cup: Wenger

DPA/TNN Frankfurt FIFA  official Arsene Wenger believes it is realistic an automated system for making offside calls could be in place by the 2022 World Cu...

DPA/TNNFrankfurtFIFA  official Arsene Wenger believes it is realistic an automated system for making offside calls could be in place by the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.“The automated offside I think will be ready for 2022,” the 71-year-old Wenger, a former Arsenal manager and now chief of global football development at the world football governing body, told the Living Football Television programme.“Automated means it goes directly from the signal to the linesman and the linesman has on his watch a red light that tells him offside or not offside.” Goals scored are currently reviewed by video with calibrated lines being studied to see if a player was in an illegal position.“At the moment, we have situations where the players are on lines to see if they are offside or not,” said Wenger.“On average, the time we have to wait is around 70 seconds, sometimes one minute 20 seconds, sometimes a little bit longer when the situation is very difficult to appreciate.“It is so important because we see many celebrations are cancelled after that for marginal situations and that’s why I believe it is a very important step.”In the same FIFA television programme, iconic referee Pierluigi Collina also opined. The much-respected Italian was a familiar figure during a storied career, which was capped by overseeing the 2002 FIFA World Cup Final.Now Collina has another key role of influence as Chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee, with his position encompassing the development of officials and all aspects of officiating.“The objective of FIFA is to have fair results on the field of play and technology can help achieve this objective,” he says. “Part of President Infantino’s vision for the future is to make VAR more affordable for a larger number of member associations. We are trying to find a solution that can be implemented with a lower number of cameras available.”Collina also discussed the enhanced focus on developing female match officials on the back of Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista making history at the recent FIFA Club World Cup.“We were happy of the very good performance of Edina and her assistant referees, but we were not surprised,” he said. “All the decisions in terms of referee selections are taken because of quality.”Asked about female referees featuring at the FIFA World Cup, Collina said: “We are preparing referees, we are not preparing male or female referees, so the criteria (is) quality.“There will be time to make this decision, and I wish all the referees – male and female – to have the opportunity to be part of this competition, because it is an experience I lived twice in my life and I can say it is simply great.”