Premier League's four key changes for 2024/25 season including VAR and fixtures
Get your calendars out because the Premier League fixture list will be released on Tuesday morning.
And while the excitement is unlikely to build too much until the European Championship reaches its denouement on July 14, some big changes to the world's biggest domestic league have already been confirmed.
Chief among them is the introduction of new technology to speed up borderline offside decisions, while referees' chiefs hope some tweaks to the video assistant referee system can help too. Then there is the scrapping of the winter break again and a tweak to when teams must confirm their starting XIs.
Here is everything new you need to know as the 2024-25 season’s first date of note arrives.
Semi-automated offsides
This will be familiar to clubs who have been participating in Europe but will be a welcome addition to the Premier League when it is phased in after one of the autumn international breaks - the confirmed date of its use has not been announced.
The Premier League say it "will provide quicker and consistent placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking." But the jury will remain out for anyone who has absorbed VAR’s messiness.
Six VAR improvements
This brings us to the flawed system that drives thousands of supporters mad every weekend. The Premier League have already confirmed six changes will be introduced come August, though even those appear open to interpretation. They are:
- Maintaining a high threshold for VAR intervention to deliver greater consistency and fewer interruptions to the flow of the game.
- Reducing delays to the game, primarily through the introduction of semi-automated offside technology.
- In-stadium announcements from referees after a post-VAR change of decision and, where possible, an enhanced offering of big screen replays to include all VAR interventions.
- Working with PGMOL on the implementation of more robust VAR training to improve consistency.
- Increasing transparency and communication.
- A fan and stakeholder communication campaign will seek to further clarify VAR’s role in the game to participants and supporters.
Manchester City will be looking to make it five titles in a row next season.
No winter break
Clubs will not receive a week off in January, which on a couple of recent occasions has meant consecutive weekends of only five games. Instead, the first round of fixtures gets underway a week later than normal, on August 17, a decision designed to ensure players get more rest this summer.
Seventy-five is the new hour
Do you regularly jump on your team’s social media page an hour before kick-off and manically refresh to learn of the starting XI? From August that will become 75 minutes as the Premier League falls in line with UEFA competitions.
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