Fifa approves tests of video technology
Two-year trial before system adopted full-time
The International Football Association Board (Ifab) has approved testing of video technology to aid match officials, it was announced yesterday.
Experiments will be carried out over a two-year period starting no later than the 2017/18 season before a final decision is taken on whether to adopt the technology permanently.
The trials will allow referees to call on the video assistance to help determine four categories of game-changing moments — goals scored, red cards, penalties and mistaken identity.
“We have taken really a historic decision for football,” said new Fifa president Gianni Infantino at a press conference in the Welsh capital Cardiff.
“Fifa and Ifab are now leading the debate and not stopping the debate. We have shown we are listening to the fans, players, to football.
“We are applying common sense. Of course we have to be cautious but we are also open to taking concrete measures.”
Infantino has previously admitted his concern that the flow of football should not be affected by the introduction of video.
The decision to introduce video technology follows the introduction of goal line technology, which was used by Fifa at the 2014 World Cup and will be used by Uefa at this season’s Champions League and Europa League finals, as well as at Euro 2016.
Numerous football associations have already expressed support for introducing video technology and the Dutch Federation (KNVB) have already carried out their own tests into the feasibility of using video to help match officials.
Meanwhile, Infantino on Friday blasted the storm of corruption allegations engulfing the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as “a lot of speculation” but backed up by “not a single fact”.
Ever since the showpiece events were controversially awarded to Russia and Qatar, the ruling body, as well as Infantino’s suspended predecessor Sepp Blatter, has battled a series of allegations over the awarding.
Infantino was elected to football’s top job at a Fifa Congress last week after serving as the Uefa secretarygeneral and he was keen to distance himself from Blatter’s tainted regime.
“I was not part of these processes in those times. However, now I’m the Fifa president. I’m a pragmatic person,” Infantino told a news briefing on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab).
“We need to deliver two World Cups — one in two years’ time, one in six years, for decisions which were taken six years ago.”
But on the allegations of fraud, the 45-year-old Swiss-Italian lawyer added: “Following [those decisions] there has been a lot of speculation, a lot of allegations, but not a single fact, in six years.
“I do not want to participate in any speculation. I want to work and to help Russia and Qatar to deliver the best World Cups ever.”
Infantino is aware that the awarding of the 2006 World Cup to Germany and the 2010 edition in South Africa have also courted controversy leading to a series of investigations and reports.
Just hours before Infantino met the media in the Welsh capital on Friday, an independent inquiry reported that it was unable to rule out Germany having bought votes to secure the 2006 World Cup.
Infantino knows that the awarding of the 2026 World Cup — with the likes of the United States and Canada expected to make hosting bids — must be seen to be above board and clean.
“We need to make sure that we do everything that we possibly can, not only to prevent strange things happening around the bidding process, but also to prevent the perception that strange things could happen,” he said.