Video referees are here to stay
THUMBS UP: FIFA BOSS BACKS SYSTEM FOR WORLD CUP
More fine-tuning needing to perfect Fifa’s new baby, admits world’s referee boss.
St Petersburg
Fifa President Gianni Infantino signalled that he is in favour of introducing video assistant referees (VAR) at next year’s World Cup following its success at the Confederations Cup, although he conceded the system needs to be improved.
“Nothing is standing in the way of using VAR (at the World Cup), as far as I’m concerned,” Infantino told a news conference on the eve of the Confederations Cup final.
“So far it has been successful. We are learning, we are improving, we are continuing the tests.”
VAR involves two video assistant referees watching the onpitch action remotely and then drawing the match referee’s attention to officiating mistakes.
Fifa said the system corrected six game-changing decisions during the Confederations Cup.
“Without the VARs, we would have had a different tournament,” Infantino said. “And a tournament which would have been a little less fair.”
But Infantino, who said that the system had been tested so far in 74 matches, added that certain aspects needed to be refined.
“We need to work still on some of the details, on the communication and the speed of the decisions being taken,” he said.
The time needed to make decisions has been criticised. There has also been debate about which circumstances it should be used for as some close calls are decided without consulting the VARs.
The use of the system has caused controversy at times, such as during Germany’s 3-1 group stage win against Cameroon when referee Wilmar Roldan needed two reviews of an incident to send off the correct Cameroon player.
Former World Cup final referee Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of Fifa’s referees committee, said the system was a “very positive tool” to help referees make the right calls and took pressure off them.
“We are in a sort of work in progress,” said Collina. – Reuters