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VAR review: Why was Wirtz onside in Premier League, offside in Europe?

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VAR review: Why was Wirtz onside in Premier League, offside in Europe?


Video assistant referee causes controversy every week in the Premier League, but how are decisions made and are they correct?

This season, we take a look at the major incidents to examine and explain the process both in terms of VAR protocol and the Laws of the Game.

Screenshot credit: NBC


Andy Davies (@andydaviesref) is a former Select Group referee, with over 12 seasons on the elite list, working across the Premier League and Championship. With extensive experience at the elite level, he has operated within the VAR space in the Premier League and offers a unique insight into the processes, rationale and protocols that are delivered on a Premier League matchday.


Referee: Craig Pawson
VAR: Andrew Madley
Time: 57 minutes
Incident: Overturn of Florian Wirtz‘s goal after it was ruled out for offside

What happened: Wirtz picked up a through ball into the Fulham penalty area and neatly scored past goalkeeper Bernd Leno, only for assistant referee Lee Betts to flag him offside.

VAR decision/review: It took some time, but VAR checked the on-field decision of no goal, and established that Wirtz was in an onside position before recommending that the goal was awarded.

Verdict: With the naked eye, it seemed that Wirtz had strayed into an offside position and the assistant was correct to disallow the goal. In fact, even the still TV footage left many agreeing that offside was the correct outcome.

However, the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) review produced a different decision.

If you remember back when VAR first arrived, lines were drawn manually by a human VAR and their assistant. But since the last few matchdays of the 204-25 season, SAOT has taken control of judging if players are in an on/offside position, using tracking data as opposed to live footage. That is meant to give far greater accuracy and speed in key moments.

But there are two key elements to this process that are unique to the Premier League vs. many leagues in Europe and the UEFA Champions League (UCL).

First, the Premier League uses Genius Sports technology SAOT system (also used in Belgium, Mexico and Brazil), which is a different system to that used in UCL and many of the big domestic leagues across Europe. Indeed, those leagues across Europe measure offside positions to the millimeter; the Premier League allows a tolerance level of 5 centimeters.

That, in theory, allows for less marginal decisions against the attacking team (as we saw in the early stages of VAR when lines were drawn on top of each other), with the rationale of creating more goals.

The Wirtz situation is a perfect example of this. As the Liverpool striker is within the “thicker” offside band under the Premier League system, the player is deemed to be onside; but in a UCL match, using stricter guidance with no 5cm tolerance, Wirtz would be deemed offside and the goal would have been disallowed.

Despite the application of SAOT, there is still a human element when a tight offside is being reviewed by VAR, which is the reason why the check at Fulham was relatively long.

The SAOT system will identify and recommend the “Kick Point” (the exact moment ball is played forward in the final pass before it reaches Wirtz), however it is at the discretion of the VAR to confirm they are happy with this, otherwise they will ask for the point to be moved a micro-frame either way.

Undoubtedly, it was this essential element of the process which caused the delay in the check, with the VAR uncomfortable that the original option was correct.

The Wirtz situation is not the first time the SAOT tolerance level has impacted things in the Premier League: Bruno Guimarães was in a similar position before Newcastle United‘s goal from Harvey Barnes against Manchester City in November, while Gabriel Gudmundsson was also ruled to be onside as Lukas Nmecha scored for Leeds United against Aston Villa in the same month.





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Wings stifle questions about Azzi Fudd-Paige Bueckers relationship

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Wings stifle questions about Azzi Fudd-Paige Bueckers relationship


Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, answered numerous basketball-related questions at her Dallas Wings introductory news conference Thursday, but one unrelated to the game overshadowed all the others.

Fudd and teammate Paige Bueckers, who will team in Dallas’ backcourt this season, went public about their relationship in 2025, and it was an often-discussed subject before this week’s draft.

But when Fudd was asked Thursday about both her relationship with Bueckers — the two overlapped at UConn and won a national championship together — and whether she would seek advice from other couples in the WNBA about navigating the relationship as pro players, the subject was quickly shut down.

“Understand why you have to ask that question,” a Wings public relations staffer interrupted. “We’re going to respectfully decline from commenting on our players’ personal lives.”

Fudd averaged 17.3 points on 47% shooting in her final season at UConn, which ended with the Huskies losing to South Carolina at the Final Four — their only loss of the season.

Bueckers, who was last year’s No. 1 overall pick by the Wings, averaged 19.2 points, 5.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds while winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award.

Wings general manager Curt Miller said the team never hesitated in its choice to draft Fudd as the team looks to take steps forward after tying for the league’s worst record last season at 10-34 and winning only nine games in 2024.

“Since the moment we secured the No. 1 pick, we set out on a plan to be deliberate, thorough, with intention on evaluating where we got to ultimately in picking Azzi Fudd,” Miller said. “We traveled all over the world watching this incredible draft class, but it all came back always to Azzi.

“Words that we heard over and over again in the investigation of her was, a winner, competitor, a hard worker, obviously the skill set speaks for itself, an incredible shooter — probably one of the quickest releases in the game today, a defender with a lot of competitiveness and toughness, and, ultimately, all the intangibles that goes along with Azzi in the locker room — being unselfish, being an incredible teammate, being a high-basketball-IQ player. [It] all pointed us through a very deliberate and thorough process back to Azzi Fudd.”



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Former SMU cornerback Teddy Knox faces $2.88M judgment for crash linked to Rashee Rice’s Lamborghini race

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Former SMU cornerback Teddy Knox faces .88M judgment for crash linked to Rashee Rice’s Lamborghini race


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Kansas City Chiefs star receiver Rashee Rice isn’t the only one facing discipline for a March 2024 car crash in Dallas.

Theodore “Teddy” Knox, a former SMU cornerback and teammate of Rice’s in college, was driving a Corvette while racing Rice’s Lamborghini on a Dallas highway before it caused a multi-car crash.

Knox has been hit with a $2.88 million default judgment in a lawsuit from one of those crash victims, Kathryn Kuykendall, according to ESPN.

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Teddy Knox and Rashee Rice (Getty Images)

Knox was ruled “grossly negligent” by Judge Kim Bailey Phipps, and a default judgment comes when a lawsuit has no response or a party does not appear in court. In this case, it was reportedly the latter.

“We’ve asked the court to grant the default judgment because we’re ethically required to as a matter of diligence,” Kuykendall’s attorney, Marc Lenahan, said in a statement to ESPN when the motion was filed. 

“Personally, it pleases us that Teddy hasn’t made further mistakes that we’re aware of. If a team gives him a chance to prove that he’s walking the right path now, we’ll be rooting for him.”

PATRIOTS STAR STEFON DIGGS PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO FELONY STRANGULATION CHARGES DAYS AFTER SUPER BOWL

This marks the third default judgment issued against Knox from the March 2024 crash. He was also ordered to pay $1.99 million to Irina Gromova and $1.63 million to Edvard Petrovskiy in combined damages.

Knox and Rice pleaded guilty to charges from the crash, and Knox was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation. Knox was charged with causing a collision involving serious bodily injury and racing on a highway causing bodily injury.

Southern Methodist Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox running on football field during game

SMU wide receiver Teddy Knox on special teams during a game against the North Texas Mean Green  Nov. 10, 2023, at Gerald Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Chris Leduc/Icon Sportswire)

Rice had similar charges, receiving five-year deferred probation and 30 days in jail as a condition of the probation. His jail time was said to be flexible, according to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office.

Rice was also required to pay the victims for their out-of-pocket medical expenses, which totaled around $115,000, as part of his plea agreement.   

Rice was also suspended six games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, which he served last season.

The 25-year-old receiver said in a statement issued by his attorney at the time of the league’s decision that he’s had “a lot of sleepless nights thinking about the damages my actions caused, and I will continue working within my means to make sure that everyone impacted will be made whole.”

SMU Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox catching a football at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas

SMU Mustangs wide receiver Teddy Knox (18) prepares to make a catch during a game between against the TCU Horned Frogs Sept. 24, 2022, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas. (Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire)

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Knox was suspended by SMU, and he hasn’t been in college football ever since. He began his career at Mississippi State before transferring to SMU.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.





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Mike Trout crushes fifth Yankee Stadium HR in four games

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Mike Trout crushes fifth Yankee Stadium HR in four games


NEW YORK — Mike Trout‘s latest homer against the New York Yankees put him in rare company, and going deep again made history at Yankee Stadium.

Trout homered for the fifth time during a four-game series Thursday, crushing a 446-foot drive in the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Angels in an 11-4 victory.

A three-time MVP, Trout joined Jimmie Foxx (1933), Darrell Evans (1985) and George Bell (1990) as the only players with five homers in a series against the Yankees, according to MLB researcher Sarah Langs.

Trout homered twice Monday before going deep again in the following two games. In the series finale Thursday, Trout drove a 2-2 slider from reliever Angel Chivilli about halfway up the left-field bleachers to give the Angels a 7-4 lead. That shot made Trout the first player to hit five homers in a series in the Bronx.

“I heard that after the game,” Trout said. “It’s pretty surreal. All the great players that came through here, so it’s pretty cool.”

“Honestly, not surprising,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said. “When you’re with Mike every day, there’s nothing that you believe that he can’t do.”

Trout also became the first visiting player to homer in four consecutive days at the current Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009.

Trout went 6-for-16 with five homers and nine RBIs in the series. He also has homered in his past five games at Yankee Stadium and drew an intentional walk in his next plate appearance before Jo Adell hit a grand slam.

“At this point it’s vintage Mike Trout,” Adell said. “When he’s healthy and feeling good, there’s nothing like it. It’s special. It’s one of a kind. So for all of us to experience it, it’s special.”

“He’s unbelievable,” Suzuki said. “He really is. It’s been an amazing week for him.”

Trout is hitting .246 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. He is 9-for-27 (.333) with five homers and 13 RBIs on the Angels’ road trip, which coincides with him making a mechanical tweak.

Trout’s career-high homer streak is seven games, achieved Sept. 4-12, 2022. He has homered in four straight games for the fourth time in his career.

Trout’s homer was part of a four-game series that featured four homers from Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge. Judge homered twice Monday, again Wednesday and went deep in the first inning in the series finale.

“He’s unreal,” designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton said after the Yankees lost for the seventh time in nine games. “Cool showing from him and Judgie all series. Obviously, you don’t want that against us, but you got to acknowledge the greatness.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time opposing players who owned multiple MVPs hit at least three homers in the same series.

“It was an impressive show by those two,” Suzuki said.



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