iPhones will help decide offside violations in English soccer this season

The UK’s top soccer league is switching up the tech it uses to detect offside violations on the football pitch. The Premier League has contracted with a company called Genius Sports, which will use dozens of iPhones combined with machine-learning models to help game officials make an offside call.

Offside violations aren’t always clear-cut, especially when players are grouped in a way that blocks officials and even multiple camera angles from seeing enough detail to accurately call them. That’s where video assistant referee (VAR) systems usually come in, ostensibly filling in the gaps using cameras and machine learning.

Soccer leagues have used VAR systems for years. FIFA, soccer’s global league, started officially using machine…

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