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LaLiga president Javier Tebas has revealed that Spain’s top football league is exploring the introduction of fully automatic offside technology starting next season, with officials gathering on Monday to sign the first collective agreement for professional referees in Spanish men’s football.
Tebas, Rafael Louzán, president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF); Francisco Soto, president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA); and Paco Hevia, president of the Spanish Association of Football Referees (AESAF) signed the agreement at the Ciudad del Fútbol in Las Rozas.
Following the signing ceremony, the four officials addressed the media after the signing ceremony, with Tebas discussed LaLiga’s next technological step in officiating.
“We are implementing, let’s see if it will be ready for next year, automatic offside,” Tebas explained. “Right now we have semi-automatic offside, but I don’t like ‘semi.’ The idea would be to put a chip inside the ball, approved by FIFA, so it detects the exact moment the ball is struck.”
The system would work alongside a specialized camera setup installed in stadiums, he detailed, stressing that the goal is to eliminate the need for VAR officials to rely on selecting specific video frames when determining offside calls.
“It would be an automatic offside system,” Tebas added. “It wouldn’t rely on the famous frames anymore. There is still the matter of homologation, checking the different ball brands used in the leagues, and coordinating everything, but it’s one of the technological objectives we’re considering for next season.”
The proposal represents the next step beyond the semi-automated offside technology currently used in LaLiga, which assists referees but still requires manual confirmation in some situations.
❌️ Agresión arbitral que acaba de suceder en Asturias.
⚽️ Llanera B-San Luís de la ÚLTIMA categoría del fútbol aficionado asturiano.
👮🏻♂️ Árbitro pita penal, el defensor visitante protagonista del lance lo empuja, se cae, y le lanza una patada tras perder el equilibrio. pic.twitter.com/7zZaj2rNSH
— Mr. Asubío (@MrAsubio) March 8, 2026
Focus on referee safety
Another major topic discussed was the safety of referees, particularly in lower divisions where incidents of abuse and violence remain a concern.
“For me, ending physical aggression is absolutely essential,” Soto said. “We held an initial meeting a few months ago with the Higher Sports Council and we’re working on a concrete proposal. One possibility is recognizing referees as agents of authority, which already exists in other countries.”
According to the CTA chief, verbal abuse often precedes physical violence and that stronger preventive protocols are being developed.
“It’s something that keeps me up at night,” he revealed. “Every weekend we face controversial situations, and we are very concerned about it.”
RFEF president Rafael Louzán described the day as both positive and difficult. He celebrated the historic agreement while condemning a recent assault on a referee in regional football in Asturias, where after the referee awarded a penalty, a player from CD San Luis struck the referee in the face and neck, knocking him to the ground.
“It’s the first collective agreement signed in the refereeing sector at an international level, which puts us at the forefront,” Louzán said. “It’s a very good day for us, but also a very sad one because of what happened yesterday in Asturias with those attacks on referees.”
If implemented, LaLiga’s proposed automated offside system would represent one of the most significant technological changes to officiating in European football, reducing human intervention in decision-making and potentially speeding up the review process.
