Football’s lawmakers on Saturday approved video
assistant referee technology (VAR) for this summer’s World Cup, in
one of the biggest changes to the sport in years.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB, meeting in
Zurich, rubber-stamped a move already backed by FIFA’s top brass,
including president Gianni Infantino.
“We came to the conclusion that VAR is good for football”,
Infantino told reporters shortly after IFAB announced the
decision.
He added that the final decision to use the technology at the
World Cup in Russia will be made when the FIFA
Council – world football’s top decision-making
body – meets in Colombia later this month.
“We will hope and encourage the council to take a favourable
decision,” Infantino said, voicing confidence that VAR will secure
final approval.
IFAB said in a press release that the decision “represents a new
era for football with video assistance for referees helping to
increase fairness in the game”.
VAR can only be used when there is doubt surrounding any of four
key game-changing situations: goals, penalty decisions, straight
red cards or mistaken identity.
It has already been implemented in top European leagues
including the German Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie
A – along with tests in multiple other leagues.
Spain’s La Liga on Friday began training officials ahead of the
technology’s expected introduction next season.
But opinion is still divided, players and managers have
complained of referees being too eager to defer to technology,
while fans in stadiums have been left in the dark as to why
decisions are being made.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said this week that European
football’s governing body would not introduce VAR in next season’s
Champions League due to ongoing “confusion” surrounding its
use.
Others have voiced concern about video assistance slowing down
the game and possibly breaking a team’s momentum.
That is an issue confronting major North American sports like
baseball and American football, where different forms of video
replay have been in use for several years leading to renewed calls
to shorten the length of games.
Some sceptics also have reservations about implementing
such a significant change at the World Cup, before all the kinks
have been resolved at lower-profile competition.
But the desire to avoid disputed calls – especially in
a competition with such a large global audience – tipped
international football officials to support using VAR at this
summer’s tournament in Russia.
One iconic example that VAR could theoretically have prevented
is Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal that saw Argentina beat
England in the 1986 World Cup.
For Infantino, international football had to ensure World Cup
officials have access to the same images as fans.
“In 2018 we cannot anymore afford that everyone in the stadium
and everyone in front of a TV screen can see within a few minutes
on his phone whether the referee has made a big mistake or not, and
the only one who cannot see it is the referee”, he said last
month.
Representatives of the 32 teams that have qualified for the
World Cup meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi this week voiced
confidence that the expected VAR rollout would be a positive for
the tournament.
“This is the new life. This is modern life,” said Iran head
coach Carlos Queiroz.
“It is obvious that football cannot go on with its eyes closed
to the modern world.”
AFP
Football’s lawmakers on Saturday approved video
assistant referee technology (VAR) for this summer’s World Cup, in
one of the biggest changes to the sport in
years.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB, meeting in
Zurich, rubber-stamped a move already backed by FIFA’s top brass,
including president Gianni Infantino.
“We came to the conclusion that VAR is good for football”,
Infantino told reporters shortly after IFAB announced the
decision.
He added that the final decision to use the technology at the
World Cup in Russia will be made when the FIFA
Council – world football’s top decision-making
body – meets in Colombia later this month.
“We will hope and encourage the council to take a favourable
decision,” Infantino said, voicing confidence that VAR will secure
final approval.
IFAB said in a press release that the decision “represents a new
era for football with video assistance for referees helping to
increase fairness in the game”.
VAR can only be used when there is doubt surrounding any of four
key game-changing situations: goals, penalty decisions, straight
red cards or mistaken identity.
It has already been implemented in top European leagues
including the German Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie
A – along with tests in multiple other leagues.
Spain’s La Liga on Friday began training officials ahead of the
technology’s expected introduction next season.
But opinion is still divided, players and managers have
complained of referees being too eager to defer to technology,
while fans in stadiums have been left in the dark as to why
decisions are being made.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said this week that European
football’s governing body would not introduce VAR in next season’s
Champions League due to ongoing “confusion” surrounding its
use.
Others have voiced concern about video assistance slowing down
the game and possibly breaking a team’s momentum.
That is an issue confronting major North American sports like
baseball and American football, where different forms of video
replay have been in use for several years leading to renewed calls
to shorten the length of games.
Some sceptics also have reservations about implementing
such a significant change at the World Cup, before all the kinks
have been resolved at lower-profile competition.
But the desire to avoid disputed calls – especially in
a competition with such a large global audience – tipped
international football officials to support using VAR at this
summer’s tournament in Russia.
One iconic example that VAR could theoretically have prevented
is Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” goal that saw Argentina beat
England in the 1986 World Cup.
For Infantino, international football had to ensure World Cup
officials have access to the same images as fans.
“In 2018 we cannot anymore afford that everyone in the stadium
and everyone in front of a TV screen can see within a few minutes
on his phone whether the referee has made a big mistake or not, and
the only one who cannot see it is the referee”, he said last
month.
Representatives of the 32 teams that have qualified for the
World Cup meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi this week voiced
confidence that the expected VAR rollout would be a positive for
the tournament.
“This is the new life. This is modern life,” said Iran head
coach Carlos Queiroz.
“It is obvious that football cannot go on with its eyes closed
to the modern world.”
AFP
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