Premier League officiating is getting a tech boost straight from Formula 1. In February 2026, Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO) announced a partnership with Personar to deploy its award-winning TrackSwift platform across Premier League referee and VAR operations. The move is part of a wider push for greater transparency, faster reviews, and more consistent application of the Laws of the Game. Here’s how AI is supporting—not replacing—match officials.
From F1 to the Premier League: What TrackSwift Does
TrackSwift was originally built for motorsport, where real-time communication between race control, stewards, and teams is critical. Personar’s platform uses speech-to-text and AI to turn live audio into structured, searchable data. That same approach now applies to football: TrackSwift analyses match audio between on-field referees and VAR officials in real time, giving PGMO and the Premier League Match Centre clearer visibility into how decisions are made during games. [cite: PR Newswire – Personar’s Award-Winning AI Technology Assists Transparency in Premier League Officiating; Personar.ai – TrackSwift]
The technology supports live in-game operations—helping officials work through critical reviews more efficiently—while keeping the final call in human hands. In post-match analysis, PGMO can run through communication reviews in record time, spot best practice, identify where things could improve, and check that the Laws of the Game are applied consistently across all Premier League matches. For fans, the same pipeline feeds the Premier League Match Centre’s X account with clearer, real-time context around key decisions. [cite: Sport Industry Group – PGMO turns to F1 tech with Personar] That combination—faster, more structured review plus better external communication—is what makes the partnership a notable step for referee technology in elite football.
VAR Transparency and Training
VAR has improved accuracy on offside and goal-line calls, but delays and perceived inconsistency have drawn criticism. The league has committed to six improvement areas: maintaining high intervention thresholds, cutting delays (including via semi-automated offside technology), improving the in-stadium experience, stronger VAR training, more transparency through communications and “Match Officials Mic’d Up,” and fan education. [cite: Premier League – Premier League statement on VAR] TrackSwift fits directly into transparency and training: it doesn’t make decisions, but it gives referees and PGMO “greater levels of information in an efficient manner,” as Howard Webb, Chief Refereeing Officer at PGMO, put it. Officials can focus on marginal gains—clearer protocols, faster handoffs, and more consistent phrasing—which in turn helps fans understand why a decision was made.
Adrian Jones, CEO and Co-Founder of Personar, described the deal as part of “a wider game-changing approach to enhancing officiating transparency.” By giving officials better tools and turning referee–VAR dialogue into reviewable data, the aim is both better decisions and a more informed public. [cite: PR Newswire; Sport Industry Group]
Why It Matters for Referee Technology
Personar is already active beyond the Premier League. The company works with Football Australia and the A-Leagues as an official Referee and VAR partner, and TrackSwift is used in other sports such as esports (e.g. Counter-Strike 2) for real-time communication and broadcast. The PGMO deal underlines a trend: elite leagues are turning to AI to support referees, not to replace them. TrackSwift’s role is to structure and analyse communication, speed up post-match review, and support training—all of which can improve consistency and trust without removing human judgment from the middle of the pitch.
For the 2025/26 season, PGMO has also promoted new referees to the Select Group 1 supplementary list and appointed Kevin Blom as VAR performance coach, bringing experience from FIFA and Euro 2020. [cite: Premier League – PGMOL confirm promotion of match officials for 2025/26] Together, these moves show that the league is investing in both people and technology to raise officiating standards. Experts and governing bodies increasingly see AI as a way to reduce human error and bias in high-stakes decisions while keeping the referee’s authority intact—a balance that TrackSwift is designed to support.
The Bottom Line
Premier League officiating is evolving with Personar TrackSwift and PGMO: real-time analysis of referee–VAR audio, faster and more consistent post-match review, and clearer communication to fans. The platform’s roots in F1 highlight how high-pressure, communication-heavy environments are a natural fit for this kind of AI. For followers of referee technology and VAR, the partnership is a clear signal that the Premier League is serious about transparency and consistency—with AI as a support tool for the officials who still make the final call. For the latest on AI in football and officiating, stay with ai-football.news.
Sources
- PR Newswire: Personar’s Award-Winning AI Technology Assists Transparency in Premier League Officiating (Feb 2026).
- Sport Industry Group: PGMO turns to F1 tech with Personar (24 Feb 2026).
- Personar: TrackSwift – Supporting Motorsports teams and Organizations; Personar announced as partner of Football Australia and the A-Leagues.
- Premier League: Premier League statement on VAR; What’s new for 2025/26 – Match officials; PGMOL confirm promotion of match officials for 2025/26.