Fifa's new offside tech could end the delayed flag at World Cup 2026

Fifa is set to introduce upgraded semi-automated offside technology at the 2026 World Cup, a move that could make the delayed offside flag much less common. The system is designed to help assistant referees make faster decisions, with an audio alert sent in real time when a player is more than 10cm offside.

Under the new setup, the assistant referee will still decide when to raise the flag and stop play, but they will no longer need to wait as long for an attacking move to finish before acting. Fifa says the technology includes fail-safes to reduce the risk of errors, though officials can still hold the flag if they suspect something has gone wrong.

The new system is more sensitive than the version tested at the Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup, which only alerted officials when a player was more than 50cm offside. Even so, it still cannot resolve the tightest calls perfectly, especially when players are on the ground or when several players are clustered close together.

The technology is limited to positional offside decisions and cannot handle subjective judgments, such as whether a player interfered with an opponent without touching the ball. Fifa hopes the change will cut frustration for fans and players while also reducing injury risk from unnecessary play continuing after an obvious offside.

That concern was highlighted in May 2025, when Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffered a serious collision after the assistant delayed raising an offside flag. Fifa’s latest changes are intended to avoid similar situations in the future.

Fifa also confirmed that it will create AI-enabled 3D avatars of all 1,248 players in the 26-man squads of the 48 teams at the tournament. Each player will be scanned in a chamber during the pre-tournament photo shoot, a process that should take only about one second. These digital models will support clearer offside animations for viewers and officials.

Beyond offside, Fifa has approved more technology to help with boundary and positioning decisions. New tools will be used to determine whether the ball went out of play before a goal, including a 3D recreation similar to goal-line technology. The chip inside the ball will also help identify the last player to touch it, which may improve corner-kick decisions.

Fifa has further expanded its real-time 3D recreation system to aid “line of sight” offside calls. Two virtual camera feeds, showing the perspective of each goalkeeper, will be available to VAR and television audiences. The aim is to make judgments about whether a goalkeeper’s view was obstructed faster, clearer, and more consistent.