NewsExplained: Premier League changes for 2024-25 season

Get team news earlier

Confirmed starting line-ups for every Premier League fixture will now be announced 75 minutes before kick-off – 15 minutes earlier than in previous seasons.

As always, follow Liverpool FC’s official media channels to receive Arne Slot’s confirmed XI and substitutes before anywhere else.

Semi-automated offsides

Semi-automated offside technology is set to be implemented in the division this season, with the Premier League expecting it to be used “from after one of the autumn international breaks”.

Premier League statement:

“Computer vision cameras powered by Genius Sports will be installed in every Premier League stadium. These cameras around the ground will track the ball as well as thousands of data points for each player and the ball.

“When a match-defining moment occurs, such as a penalty, a goal or a red card, the technology will track to see if any attacking player involved in the build-up to the incident was offside.

“If a player receives a ball in an offside position, the technology will send an alert to the officials in the VAR Hub.

“They will check that the point of contact with the ball and automated offside line have been correctly recorded. The VAR will then inform the on-field officials if an offside has been recorded.

“The hope is that on average offside decisions will be made more than 30 seconds faster than last season under the old system.

“There will be occasions of occlusion of the ball (it being hidden from the cameras among a group of players), ‘edge decisions’ or subjective decisions of whether an offside player was interfering with play, which will require intervention from the VAR, and possibly the on-field referee in the latter instance.”

More accurate calculation of added time

Premier League statement:

“From this season, when a goal is scored, match officials will only start adding time on to the end of the match when the delay between the goal and the subsequent kick-off exceeds 30 seconds.

“This will allow natural time for both teams to resume their restart positions after each goal. Given that there were 3.28 goals scored per match last season on average, this change may result in a significant drop in stoppage time this season.”

Multiball

Premier League statement:

“As before, the Premier League will practice the multiball system in 2024-25, with 15 balls in use to speed up the game.

“When the match ball goes out of play and is not quickly retrievable, players must go to the nearest cone to collect a replacement ball themselves to restart play.

“Ball assistants are not permitted to return a ball to a player but should return it to a vacant cone.

“But from this season, an exception to this rule has been introduced in that the ball assistants positioned behind the goals at the end where the ball goes out are allowed to return a ball to the goalkeeper who will take the restart.

“It remains the case that a club’s technical area staff who deliberately delay the restart of play by holding on to the ball, kicking the ball away, etc will be sent off. Any players who do the same in the technical area will receive a yellow card.”

Subs warming up

Premier League statement:

“A slight tweak is that from this season, the number of substitutes allowed to warm up at the same time on the perimeter of the pitch during a match has gone up from three to five players per team.

“This is to correspond with the fact that teams are able to make five substitutions at any one time.”

PL Match Centre

A new X account has been launched – @PLMatchCentre – to provide near-live explainers and updates on operational and officiating matters for every Premier League match.

Premier League statement:

“The account will post factual explanations of on-pitch refereeing decisions and the involvement of the video assistant referee (VAR) including the role of technology in the decision-making process.

“In the absence of live VAR audio being broadcast, as it is not permitted in football, the Premier League Match Centre will be able to relay on social media near-live information from the VAR Hub during a game.”