March 16 – FIFA’s ruling Council are expected to rubber-stamp video assistant referees being used at this summer’s World Cup at their meeting in Bogota today despite lingering opposition from within the game.
The move is pretty much a formality after the game’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), decided unanimously two weeks ago to support official implementation of VARs after hearing how refereeing errors have been significantly reduced in countries that have been experimenting with the system.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been leading the drive to introduce VARs despite scepticism among fans that referrals take too long and the flow of the game is interrupted.
“VAR is something positive that will bring much more to the transparency of football,” said Infantino ahead of the FIFA Council meeting in Colombia.
“Video refereeing isn’t going to be the solution to everything in football. What we want to do is avoid resounding mistakes by referees.”
VARs have been trialled since 2016 by around 20 federations including the German Bundesliga and Italian Serie A. But it has not been universally welcomed with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin saying there is too much confusion to allow VARs to be used in next season’s Champions League.
But Infantino countered: “The intervention of VAR takes one minute on average in each game. If we lose a minute to correct mistakes, I think we have done something good.”
According to the New York Times, the Council will also discuss the establishment of a global FIFA women’s league comprising 16 teams.
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