Neo Química Arena becomes São Paulo’s first with semi-automatic offside | OneFootball

Neo Química Arena has begun installing semi-automatic offside technology this week, making it the first stadium in São Paulo to receive the equipment as part of Brazilian football’s adoption. Work began on Monday.

"The implementation of semi-automatic offside at Neo Química Arena shows the high level of infrastructure we have in some of Brazil’s leading stadiums," said Raimundo Góes Netto, president of the CBF arbitration working group. He congratulated the arena’s infrastructure and thanked Corinthians staff for speeding up the process, calling it an important step for refereeing and the credibility of CBF competitions, he told Corinthians TV.

CBF had planned to introduce the system in the first round of the 2026 Campeonato Brasileiro, but installations and operational adjustments elsewhere were not finished in time. The technology therefore did not debut at the start, and no new date has been set.

The rollout is supported by Genius Sports. The system uses 28 iPhones 17 Pro mounted on the stadium roof, triggered remotely to capture the whole pitch along with player positions and movement.

It is designed to deliver millimetre-precise offside judgments by replacing manual line drawing and the manual selection of the pass frame. Current VAR methods can lead to delays and a margin for error.

Corinthians return to Neo Química Arena on Sunday at 20:30 to face Flamengo in round eight of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

Source: Meu Timao