Champions League to use VAR from knockout stages
Uefa supremo Ceferin against combined bids to host 2030 World Cup
Uefa will fast-track the implementation of video assistant referees (VAR) for the Champions League knockout stages this season, its president Aleksander Ceferin said yesterday.
European football’s governing body opted against using VAR this season, despite the technology being employed by major European leagues and the World Cup in Russia this year. But Ceferin flagged recently that a report being prepared by Uefa’s referees chief could allow its Executive Committee to revise its stance. It ■ also agreed yesterday to roll out the technology in this season’s Europa League final and next June’s finals of Uefa’s new Nations League competition. “To be very straightforward with you, we discussed with our colleagues if we can do it before, why wait because it’s hard to afford any mistakes,” Ceferin said at the end of a two-day meeting of the Executive Committee in Dublin.
Ceferin said he is almost against different confederations combining to host the World Cup. Spain has floated the idea of bidding for the 2030 World Cup along with Portugal and Morocco. Ceferin says he is also irritated that the plan came from politicians rather than the country’s football association. Ceferin says “I do whatever I can to have only one European bid for the World Cup.”