Semi-automated offside is coming for the World Cup. Here’s how one referee uses it

The 2026 World Cup will be the first edition of the tournament to feature semi-automated offside technology, utilizing a dozen cameras to track player movement at a rate of 50 stills per second. In theory, it sounds like an effective, if dizzying, way to cut down on delays and better aid the officials.

One of those officials is Micheal Barwegan, who is part of the first all-Canadian officiating team in men’s World Cup history. He has worked with referee Drew Fischer and fellow assistant referee Lyes Arfa increasingly often over the past two years. The team worked in-tandem at the 2024 Olympics and last summer’s Club World Cup along with their more regular work in club soccer.

This summer won’t be his first semi-automated rodeo. That came last summer, when he was stationed along the touchline during Botafogo’s famous win over Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup.

Barwegan said that while the tech certainly helps with his job, it does not turn the assistant referee into an autopilot-led role.

“I’m gonna tell you, the semi-automated system is not perfect,” Barwegan said. “As such, our job stays exactly the same. It is really, really good – I like to say I’m a little bit better – but I think that’s purely just on a technical side with how it’s programmed.

“It’s tracking every player, and it’s got points [on each of those players] that it’s tracking … so I’m going to say it is as perfect as an assistant referee, if not better, on your normal run-of-the-mill offside calls. Its accuracy is amazing at that.”

All of those cameras tracking all of those limbs assess when an attacker is stationed to receive a pass beyond the second-to-last defender. If it’s absolutely certain, the system notifies assistant referees with an “offside, offside, offside” message in an automated voice through their earpiece. As of last summer’s Club World Cup, being “clearly offside” means the gap between defender and attacker is more than 10cm.

Whenever it gets closer, the system will say “delay” in the assistant referee’s earpiece. If there isn’t a clear offside call to flag – either due to minimal gaps between the players involved or some off-ball movement that complicates assessing the scenario – there is no message. All the while, the assistant referees must do their usual work, allowing the match to progress so long as the play is inconclusive.

Those automated messages are only received by assistant referees, who are also in constant contact with the referee for the full duration of a match. Barwegan and some of his peers have begun relaying what the semi-automated system tells them as an important part of their role.

“The advantage to us on those plays is that the system doesn’t make a decision until the offside position player touches the ball,” Barwegan said. “When the ball gets played and a player’s running, I am quick to say [whether] he’s going to be offside or he’s good, and I will clear it to the referee in his earpiece before another decision has to be made. The computer has to think, and it’s super fast, but [on the field] it feels like forever.”

Barwegan, a math teacher and a board game afficionado, first began officiating at age 12, hoping to earn “some pocket change.” Within five years, he found that he enjoyed calling games more than he liked playing them, though he’s quick to admit he “wasn’t that good” as a player.

“Some people are like, ‘I need to go for a run’,” Barwegan said. “I clearly still need to do that, because I have to run [as a referee]. I like engaging my brain. I like reading rules, deciphering rules, and seeing how systems work together.”

By 2012, he was calling professional games. His brother Brian also chose to take up officiating, eventually refereeing high school and college games for 17 years.

When it came time for him to hang up his whistle in 2025, Brian had one request: For Micheal to be his AR.

“I texted my manager with a weird request: can you [assign] me to Toronto?” Micheal recalled. “He’s like, ‘nobody wants to go to Toronto when it might be cold. What are you doing?”

The reasoning was simple; Toronto was the only location close enough to Brian’s home in Alberta for Micheal to work a pro game on Saturday, with enough time to fly back and drive to Brian’s final game.

After working Toronto FC’s 4-2 win over Orlando City, Micheal hopped on a flight and got to the University of Lethbridge in time for the Pronghorns’ clash against the University of Alberta Golden Bears.

“I came screaming in, threw on a uniform and threw on my badge and went out there,” Barwegan said. “They still yelled at me non-stop. I was doing a game in MLS 14 hours ago, guys. I know what offside is, I promise.”