April 27 – In a move that seems sure to receive widespread support even though it is not technically a unilateral decision, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that video replays will be used at the 2018 World Cup.
Infantino had already stated that he wanted the technology – which can only review incidents relating to disputed goals, red cards, mistaken identities and penalties – to be used in Russia, and now he has removed any doubt.
Speaking in Santiago on the fringes of the CONMEBOL Congress, Infantino said “at the 2018 World Cup we will have video referees, because so far the results are very positive.”
Video assistance was introduced for the first time in a FIFA competition at the Club World Cup in Japan in December. The International Football Association Board, the game’s lawmaking body, is in its second year of trials with video assistant referees (VAR). Protocol-wise IFAB would have to rubber-stamp the system’s official global implementation but that is a formality given its success so far.
The system was used to correct two decisions when Spain beat France in a friendly last month while Australia’s A-League became the first domestic competition to employ the technology earlier this month.
Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti, whose side were on the receiving end of several dubious decisions when they were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, is the latest high-profile figure to call for technology to be introduced.
“We are going to help the referee to not make any mistake, or commit less mistakes, and we are going to give a bit more of justice to football,” Infantino told reporters.
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