Whether you like it or you hate it, Football is going to see a technological revolution in the next few years. VAR (Video Assistant Referees) have just been approved by FIFA to be used in this summers World Cup in Russia. If you are unawares of what VAR Technology is. Here is some information to get you up to speed.

What is VAR?

The tool, much like hawk eye in cricket and rugby, is used to help referees make calls that are dubious. A referee on the field of play can call on his VAR to help make a decision that he is unaware of. Then he will speak to a team of trained referees in a television center style box sometimes hundreds of miles away. Whereby they have access to many different angles of a replay. This can be sped up or slowed down as they wish to help make the correct decision.

The tool helps referees make the right call on goals, penalties, offsides or even penalisation of a player. In theory this will help decisions easier for the ref and help the right outcome of a match. Therefore, the correct team will proceed to the next round.

VAR Criticism

This is HUGE for the technology as there has been some ups and downs in recent trials around the UK. The main criticism of it being that it takes too long for a decision to be made. There is no communication between the fans and the officials nor between officials and players. Unlike Rugby where you can hear almost every word a referee says, you don’t hear anything.

That being said, the speed of the game should largely be unaffected as VAR’s only come out when there are huge errors or serious missed incidents. Most of the time it’s down to the referee on the pitch to make the call on his own.

Whether VAR is going to be a huge success at the World Cup is anyone’s guess. But it’s a huge sign of how serious FIFA is taking this technology.

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