La Liga to bring in fully-automated offsides next season, president Javier Tebas confirms

The revelation came during the formal signing of the first-ever Collective Agreement for professional football refereeing in Spain. Gathered at the Ciudad del Futbol in Las Rozas, leaders from La Liga, the RFEF, and the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) formalised a deal to further professionalise the industry. While the event focused on administrative and financial improvements for officials, Tebas used the platform to outline a radical shift in how the game is officiated, moving away from "semi" solutions in favour of total automation.

Tebas was open about his dissatisfaction with existing tools, claiming that the term "semi-automated" implies a level of human intervention that the league prefers to avoid. The La Liga chief emphasised the goal of achieving a smooth, objective output with minimal manual calibration for video officials. The plan is for the fully automated offside to be implemented next year.

"We are implementing, we'll see if it's ready for next year, automatic offside," Tebas explained, as quoted by Marca. "Currently, there's semi-automatic, but I don't like 'semi'. It would involve putting a chip inside the ball, approved by FIFA, to detect when the ball is struck. This requires a special camera system in the stadiums. It would be an automatic offside system, eliminating the need for the famous frames. Approval is still pending, as is reviewing the different ball brands used in the leagues... it all needs to be coordinated. But it's one of the technological objectives we're setting for next season."

The summit addressed the alarming increase in hostility toward officials, with Soto highlighting that verbal abuse frequently escalates into physical danger. He revealed that the CTA is working on a proposal to have referees legally classified as "agents of authority" - a status already utilised in other countries to provide stronger legal protection. "For me, ending physical aggression is paramount," Soto stated. "We are very concerned and are working hard on specific proposals."

RFEF president Louzan echoed these sentiments, noting that the first-ever collective agreement is a step toward better protection. However, he warned that the root of the problem often lies at the top of the professional pyramid. "We have to ask the big teams to set an example," Louzan remarked. "Ultimately, these situations, the aggressive comments, and the videos produced by major clubs are transferred down to the lower categories, leading to the violence we are seeing today."

Before the chip-in-ball technology can debut, La Liga must navigate a complex coordination phase involving FIFA approval and the standardisation of various match ball manufacturers used across the league. Fans can expect significant infrastructure investment across Spanish stadiums to accommodate the necessary high-speed camera arrays. Simultaneously, the new collective agreement will trigger retroactive salary increases for referees, aimed at stabilising the profession as it prepares for this high-tech transition during the upcoming summer break.