Uefa fast forward on video assistant referees

Uefa has said that video assistant referees will be used in the Champions League knockout rounds from February.

Some countries have been using VAR since 2016 and it was used at this year’s World Cup in Russia. But Uefa had decided to wait at least another season before rolling out the system in its competitions.

That approach was ditched by the governing body yesterday at a meeting of its executive committee in Dublin, where it wasconfirmedvarwillalsobe usedinthe2019europaleague final and next summer’s European Under-21 Championship and Nations League finals. Looking further ahead, VAR will be used in all Champions League games, from the playoff stage onward, next season and at the 2019 Super Cup.

Uefa is also still planning to use VAR at Euro 2020, the 2021 Nations Leagues and from the group stages of the 2020/21 Europa League.