By Andrew Warshaw in Zurich
March 4 – So now it’s official. No turning back. But are there still more questions than answers? As anticipated, video assistant referees are set to be used at this year’s World Cup in Russia after football’s lawmakers, the International FA Board (IFAB), voted to roll out the technology when they met at FIFA headquarters in Zurich on Saturday.
By Andrew Warshaw
January 23 – As anticipated the use of video technology at the World Cup in Russia has moved a step closer though a final decision will not be made until early March.
January 12 – Brazilian superstar Neymar has announced the launch of his own app – Neymar Experience – in partnership with mobile technology company Digible.
December 19 – Football Federation Australia says it will continue to experiment with video technology in the A-League despite a series of suspect decisions.
December 15 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s determination to have video technology introduced before next year’s World Cup has taken a further knock with a spokesman for the game’s law making body questioning the system’s efficacity, especially in Germany where it is being trialled along with several other leagues.
By Andrew Warshaw
November 29 – Football’s lawmakers look set to have be rushed into a decision over whether to allow video technology to be used at next year’s World Cup – one of the most important rule change considerations of recent years.
August 21 – The champions of the Bundesliga and Serie A saw a couple of key decisions of the new season overturned by the video assistant referee at the weekend.
May 19 – The Under-20 World Cup, which runs from this Saturday to June 11 in six South Korean cities, will be the first FIFA youth tournament to employ video assistant referees but the world governing body’s head of refereeing has cautioned against its over-use.
April 13 – Goalline technology will be used in this season’s English Championship play-offs before being introduced in all second-tier matches in 2017-18.
March 29 – Video technology, which FIFA hopes will be used at next year’s World Cup, was used to correct two wrong decisions as Spain beat France 2-0 in a friendly in Paris.
February 8 – Howard Webb, one of the world’s most recognisable and respected referees who has recently been working as a television pundit, has been hired by the body overseeing officiating in MLS to manage the introduction of video assistant referees (VARs).
December 19 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino still hopes to see video technology used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia if teething problems can be ironed out in time.
December 16 – FIFA’s new video review system, championed by those who have long argued goalline technology alone does not go far enough, has not got off to the most auspicious of starts.
September 14 – This is real but the concept is a little surreal. Chinese firm UBTECH have become the first Official Robot Partner of Manchester City.
April 25 – The lawmakers of world football, the International FA Board, have invited leagues and associations interested in running experiments with video replays to a first workshop on the ground-breaking innovation in Amsterdam next month.