VAR decisions explained on giant screens
FLORENCE, ITALY — Fans attending World Cup matches in Russia won’t be left wondering about the reasons behind decisions of the video assistant referee.
After the VAR’s decision is made, replays will be shown on giant screens inside the stadiums accompanied by a written explanation.
It’s all part of the VAR information system that FIFA unveiled Wednesday .
FIFA will place someone in the VOR (video operations room) who will listen in to the VAR’s decisions and communicate them to both TV commentators and stadium personnel operating the giant screens.
“So we will have graphics on the giant screens, we will have replays after the decision on the giant screens, and we will also inform the fans about the outcome of a VAR incident and review,” said Sebastian Runge, group leader of football innovation at FIFA.
With the VAR making its tournament debut during the June 14-July 15 World Cup, FIFA is holding its final training camp this month for the 99 match officials — 36 referees and 63 assistants — who have been selected to go to Russia.
Thirteen VARs have been preselected and are being trained at Italy’s Coverciano complex, and FIFA referees chief Pierluigi Collina said more VARs and VAR assistants will be chosen from the 99 match officials.
Three of the 13 VARs come from Italy’s Serie A and two from Germany’s Bundesliga — elite competitions that already use video assistants.
The VAR can support the referee in four game-changing situations: goals and offences leading up to a goal, penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty, direct red card incidents and cases of mistaken identity.
Still, VARs in both Italy and Germany have received vehement criticism for long delays and bungled decisions this season.
On Monday, Mainz was awarded a penalty during halftime against a rival Freiburg side that had already left the pitch for the break — prompting the unusual scene of a team returning from the changing room to defend a penalty.
“Yesterday we had already discussed this incident here and gave match officials and VARs clear indication about what should be done if something similar in FIFA competition — specifically the World Cup — happens,” Collina said without providing further detail.
Collina added that the VAR should not be overused, adding that ideally it would not intervene at all in a match.
“The goal of VAR is to avoid major mistakes,” Collina said.
“The objective is not to have clear and obvious mistakes committed on the field of play. This is the target, the goal is not to rereferee the match using technology,” he said.
“There will continue to be incidents when a final answer will not be given and there will be different opinions,” Collina added.
FIFA will follow the Bundesliga model of a central control centre for the VAR rather than using trucks outside stadiums.
“We will have all of the referees based in Moscow so there won’t be any stress in terms of travel,” Collina said.