VAR Must Be ‘Clearer, Faster’, Says UEFA Boss Ceferin. – TheNigerialawyer

UEFA plans to expand its use of VAR, but president Aleksander
Ceferin said on Wednesday he wants the system and the rules to be
clearer and faster.

He told a press conference after a UEFA Executive Committee
meeting that the organisation planned to ask the International
Football Association Board (IFAB), which manages the rules, to
clarify several issues.

Ceferin emphasised that UEFA was committed to video replay. He
suggested the bigger problem was overcoming the reluctance of teams
and their fans to accept they have been fairly beaten.

“Why not go back?” he asked. “Because there would always be
teams who think they lost because VAR did not exist. We always
complain when we lose because of a mistake.”

“We need to make the technology clearer, faster, less invasive”,
he said. “But it will stay… And that’s why we have to try to
improve it.”

Ceferin listed problems he wants addressed.

“One is, for example, offside. The line is very thin, and it’s
drawn by VAR, so it’s a subjective line of an objective fact, which
is a bit strange,” he said.

Ceferin said agreement on handball was also a problem. He said
retired Italian referee Roberto Rosetti had conducted a session at
UEFA for leading coaches which highlighted the disagreements.

“For me it was strange when we had elite coaches visiting us,
all the top coaches of European football, of world football,” said
Ceferin. “When Roberto Rosetti showed a ball that touched a hand,
half of them said ‘handball’, half said ‘no way’.”

Ceferin also cited the confusion caused when referees reviewed
an incident in an earlier phase of play. He cited a Champions
League match on November 28. Inter Milan put the ball in the net
only for the goal to be disallowed because VAR showed an earlier
foul at the other end. Slavia were awarded a penalty. Inter thought
they were 2-0 up, but found themselves at 1-1.

“How far do we go, do we check five minutes, do we check 15
minutes?” he asked. He added that, in the past, “the referee never
said ‘seven minutes earlier there was a foul so we go back.’ The
game is changing and we are afraid it is changing too much.”

IFAB will meet again on February 29 in Northern Ireland to
consider potential rules changes to be introduced on June 1.

UEFA said on Wednesday that it will use VAR in the qualifying
play-offs for Euro 2020 at the end of March, as well as in the
European zone qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, which will begin
in March 2021.