Arsene Wenger believes FIFA should be ready to implement automated offsides at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Former Arsenal manager Wenger, who is now FIFA’s chief of global football development, has been overseeing trials of the new technology.
Under that system, the technology would work out if a player was offside and then said a near-instant message to the linesman.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), football’s lawmakers, said last month it was looking into the technology - which could increase the accuracy of offside decisions.
Wenger told FIFA’s Living Football television show: “The automated offside I think will be ready for 2022. Automated means it goes directly from the signal to the linesman and the linesman has on his watch a red light that tells him offside or not offside.
“At the moment we have situations where the players are on lines to see if they are offside or not. On average, the time we have to wait is around 70 seconds, sometimes one minute 20 seconds, sometimes a little bit longer when the situation is very difficult to appreciate.
“It is so important because we see many celebrations are cancelled after that for marginal situations and that’s why I believe it is a very important step.
“The semi-automated goes first to the VAR, who signals it to the linesman. I’m pushing very hard to have the automated offsides, which means straight away the signal goes to the linesman.”
FIFA has already tested the semi-automated system at the 2019 Club World Cup.
