VAR will show its true class on the world stage again LIONS WILL NOT GET A BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING IT

THE 2022 World Cup will demonstrate why VAR continues to be more successful at international level than it is in domestic football, carrying on the trend we saw at this summer’s European Championships.

That’s according to Urs Meier, the former FIFA referee best known here for ruling out a potential winning goal for Sol Campbell in England’s Euro 2004 clash with Portugal.

One of the most respected voices in officialdom, Meier was impressed with the way that VAR worked at Euro 2020, with few delays and most knife-edge decisions helped – and not hindered – by the sport’s newest technology.

And he sees no reason why that won’t be in evidence again in Qatar this time next year.

“It works in major championships because you have the best referees in the world on the pitch and also some of the best referees in the world looking after the VAR,” he said. “It works well together.

“These teams work, and you also saw that at the World Cup in 2018. VAR works well because you’ve got the infrastructure to make it work.

“In the league that doesn’t happen. “You haven’t got the best referees, you haven’t got the best VAR officials and that’s why, in many leagues, we have problems there.

“You need to have the experience and

‘The last two tournaments have been very good’

that’s what you get at a World Cup or a European Championship.

“If you have better referees on the pitch then there’s also less decisions being referred to VAR in the first place so you’re automatically saving time.

“The players accept this, the supporters accept this – what we’ve seen at the last two tournaments has been very good. And that will continue.”

The issues at league level, though, are yet to be solved.

So what would Meier like to see done to improve officiating standards in the domestic game?

“We have to go and work together with former football players – with attackers, with defenders, with goalkeepers,” he said.

“You need them to tell referees why players react in certain ways in certain situations.

“You have to improve the referees by getting former players involved, they need to share their knowledge.

“The step that can bring us to another level is understanding that football knowledge.

“At a corner kick, for example, referees need to know what is going through a goalkeeper’s head.

“It’s much easier to come up with the right decisions once you’re armed with that kind of knowledge.”