During a World Cup group match between Qatar and Switzerland, Switzerland were awarded a penalty after Remo Freuler was brought down by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada. Replays appeared to show Freuler was offside in the build-up, but FIFA, the tournament's host broadcaster, did not release the semi-automated offside animation that could have settled the debate. Gary Neville, commentating for ITV, called the situation "a dictatorship" and demanded transparency. The incident has raised questions about how semi-automated offside technology works and why FIFA sometimes chooses not to share its evidence.
Semi-automated offside technology is a system introduced by FIFA to help referees make faster, more accurate offside decisions. Before the 2026 World Cup, FIFA scanned every player at the tournament to create unique, lifelike avatars. During matches, cameras track the players and the ball, and software automatically detects when an attacker is in an offside position at the moment the ball is played. If the system determines a player is more than 10 centimetres offside, an audio alert is sent to the assistant referee, allowing the offside flag to be raised without delay. For closer calls, the technology still calculates the position, but the alert may not trigger automatically, and the video assistant referee (VAR) reviews the footage.
“Explaining semi-automated offside technology and the controversy over FIFA not releasing evidence.”
In domestic leagues such as the Premier League, semi-automated offside systems also rely on limb-tracking cameras and can fall back to drawing lines on screen to show the exact position of players. At the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has quickly shown avatar animations for offside decisions — even when the decision was not close — but in the Qatar vs Switzerland match, no such graphic was released. FIFA has not provided clarification, despite requests from the BBC. This lack of transparency fuels distrust, as Neville and others pointed out: fans are left to guess whether the technology worked correctly.
For UK readers, this matters because the Premier League uses similar semi-automated offside technology. The controversy highlights that even with advanced systems, human judgment and institutional discretion remain. If FIFA can withhold evidence at a World Cup, fans may wonder whether domestic leagues are fully transparent. The incident also shows that tight offside calls — those under the 10 centimetre threshold — may not be automatically flagged, leaving room for debate. Already, pundits like Ian Wright have called the situation "a scandal".
Q: What is semi-automated offside technology? Semi-automated offside technology uses multiple cameras and player tracking to determine when an attacker is offside. It creates a 3D avatar of each player from pre-tournament body scans, and software analyses the position of body parts relative to the last defender and the ball at the moment of the pass. If the system detects offside by more than 10cm, it sends an alert to the assistant referee.
Q: Why didn't FIFA show the offside animation for the Switzerland penalty? FIFA has not explained why it withheld the animation in this case. Earlier in the tournament, FIFA released semi-automated graphics for both tight and clear offside decisions, even when VAR did not intervene. The decision not to show the Freuler incident has drawn criticism from pundits and fans who suspect the evidence would have shown an offside.
Q: Does the Premier League use the same technology? Yes, the Premier League uses a similar semi-automated offside system that relies on limb-tracking cameras worn by players. It can generate on-screen graphics showing offside lines. However, unlike FIFA's World Cup system, the Premier League regularly broadcasts these graphics to viewers, providing more transparency.
What happens next? FIFA faces continued pressure to release the semi-automated offside images from the Qatar vs Switzerland match. The incident may prompt calls for FIFA to adopt a mandatory policy of publishing all semi-automated verdicts, especially for close calls. Meanwhile, the 2026 World Cup continues, and referees will rely on the same technology for the rest of the tournament.