Having footballers wear electronic tags could help improve the accuracy of offside decisions, claims computer science student Jonathan Dunne. The tags could track the players and ball to within 5 cm.
He examined 3 possible systems: tagging using RFID, satellite tracking and video content analysis. But RFID seemed to be the most cost-effective and accurate system.

“With RFID the referee would receive a real-time signal on a gadget such as an earpiece, so there would be no need to stop play – unless there was an offside offence,” he explained. “I wouldn’t envisage removing the referee’s assistant. He could still indicate when a player is offside, but the technology would be able to give a definitive answer.”
Jonathan Dunne says his research is still at the feasibility stage but he hopes it will be taken on in the form of a pilot.
Via BBC News.
See also: Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits’s wireless ball and player location system.