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Futbol

QPR Academy Duo To Face No Action Over Voyeurism Accusation

Two Queens Park Rangers academy players accused of voyeurism are no longer under investigation, police have confirmed. In a statement issued to BBC Sport, a spokesman for the Championship club said the players "maintained their innocence throughout" and were looking forward to "continuing to focus on their careers". The footballers, both in their late teens, were detained following a report of a crime at a nightclub in Kingston, south west London, on 5 February. At the time, the Metropolitan Police confirmed the pair's arrest while QPR also verified that they were aware of the allegations. Police officers arrested the two players at the club's training ground in Hounslow on 27 February. A Metropolitan Police statement read: "On Thursday 27 February, police arrested two men in their late teens on suspicion of voyeurism. "This follows a report of an incident which took place at a nightclub in Kingston on Wednesday 5 February. "Both suspects were taken to a police station and were subsequently bailed pending further enquiries. "Following a thorough investigation, both men have been informed that no further action will be taken. "The victim has been informed." A QPR statement read: "Queens Park Rangers Football Club can confirm the Metropolitan Police have concluded their investigation into this matter and have confirmed there is no action to be taken. "The club expresses its gratitude to the Metropolitan Police for their thorough approach to the process. "The academy players, who maintained their innocence throughout, look forward to putting this behind them and continuing to focus on their careers."

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Futbol

Premier League To Introduce Semi-automated Offside Technology

The Premier League is to introduce semi-automated offside technology for the round of fixtures starting on Saturday 12 April. The decision follows non-live testing in the Premier League and its launch in English football during the FA Cup fifth round at the end of February. Semi-automated offside technology is designed to make the judgement of tight offside calls easier for officials by rendering key parts of the process automatic. It automates key elements of the offside decision-making process to support the video assistant referee (VAR), and the Premier League said it "enhances the speed, efficiency, and consistency of offside decision-making". The technology was first used in elite-level football at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and featured in Serie A and La Liga, as well as the Champions League. The first Premier League match to benefit from its introduction will be Manchester City's home game against Crystal Palace (12:30 BST) The system aims to remove some elements of human subjectivity by replacing decisions made by officials with automated ones taken by technology. As things stand, when a player scores after a borderline offside situation, officials in the video assistant referee (VAR) room must decide on three key things - when the ball was kicked, where - and at what angle - the defender's body was when the ball was kicked, and where - and what angle - the attacker's body was. All three of those decisions will now be automatically taken by the technology. Bespoke cameras, which will monitor a variety of key elements involved in any tight offside decision, have been installed beneath the roof at all 20 Premier League stadiums. The cameras will track the exact movement of the ball as well as 10,000 surface mesh data points on the bodies of all 22 players, meaning it can be automatically determined whether or not an attacking player's body was beyond the last defender's at the exact time the ball was played. Artificial intelligence manages the process, monitoring ball and player movement, before coming up with a decision as to whether the player was onside or offside. VAR officials check the system has correctly determined the three key points it measures before confirming the decision. The on-field officials then inform the players. A 3D animation of the decision produced by the artificial intelligence will then be played on television for viewers at home and on big screens in the stadium.

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Futbol

Premiership Could Move To 10, 14 Or 16-team League

The Scottish Premiership could be changed to a 10, 14 or 16-team division in an attempt to help reduce fixture congestion. Talks have taken place at senior levels about altering the structure of the top flight, in which 12 clubs split into a top and bottom six after 33 rounds of matches. Thirty-eight rounds of games are played altogether and the format has been in place since season 2000-01. Retaining that model is also an option. One of the major issues with any reconstruction would be how the financial distribution model would work. Last year the SPFL announced record turnover of £44m with more than £33m being awarded to the clubs. Top-flight clubs were given more than £27.5m of that total with the rest being split between the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2. In addition to this income, Premiership clubs who do not feature in the group or league stages of European football currently share 'solidarity payments' from Uefa, which are distributed by the Scottish FA. Last season these payments were in excess of £600,000 with this current season's total expected to be around the £900,000. Recently, the Scottish FA suggested to Premiership clubs they share some of the Uefa money with clubs in the Championship - a suggestion that was knocked back. Livingston manager David Martindale says something has to change to give some of the smaller clubs a bigger slice of the monies. "I don't think it's going to happen this year," he said of the prospect of solidarity money to Championship clubs. "It comes down to self preservation and that's where Scottish football is all in. "But I think we've got to all get our heads together. I think 80% of the European leagues are going to allow it to filter down into the second tier of their systems. "I think there's definitely merit in having a bigger Premiership. That probably takes away a wee bit of that argument of the solidarity payments. "If we want to promote youth, the product on the park to be a wee bit better... the game becomes a wee bit mundane at times, playing each other four times a year." An SPFL spokesperson confirmed: "The SPFL's competitions working group will be meeting shortly to discuss several different options for league reconstruction."

dataDp/3575.jpeg

Futbol

Premiership Could Move To 10, 14 Or 16-team League

The Scottish Premiership could be changed to a 10, 14 or 16-team division in an attempt to help reduce fixture congestion. Talks have taken place at senior levels about altering the structure of the top flight, in which 12 clubs split into a top and bottom six after 33 rounds of matches. Thirty-eight rounds of games are played altogether and the format has been in place since season 2000-01. Retaining that model is also an option. One of the major issues with any reconstruction would be how the financial distribution model would work. Last year the SPFL announced record turnover of £44m with more than £33m being awarded to the clubs. Top-flight clubs were given more than £27.5m of that total with the rest being split between the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2. In addition to this income, Premiership clubs who do not feature in the group or league stages of European football currently share 'solidarity payments' from Uefa, which are distributed by the Scottish FA. Last season these payments were in excess of £600,000 with this current season's total expected to be around the £900,000. Recently, the Scottish FA suggested to Premiership clubs they share some of the Uefa money with clubs in the Championship - a suggestion that was knocked back. Livingston manager David Martindale says something has to change to give some of the smaller clubs a bigger slice of the monies. "I don't think it's going to happen this year," he said of the prospect of solidarity money to Championship clubs. "It comes down to self preservation and that's where Scottish football is all in. "But I think we've got to all get our heads together. I think 80% of the European leagues are going to allow it to filter down into the second tier of their systems. "I think there's definitely merit in having a bigger Premiership. That probably takes away a wee bit of that argument of the solidarity payments. "If we want to promote youth, the product on the park to be a wee bit better... the game becomes a wee bit mundane at times, playing each other four times a year." An SPFL spokesperson confirmed: "The SPFL's competitions working group will be meeting shortly to discuss several different options for league reconstruction."