Adoption of VAR Continues After Technology Proves to Be Successful

Published on November 15th, 2018
Written By: Ariel Noel


The Video Assistant Technology - VAR - Lives - Illustration. The introduction of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology a few years ago initially divided the football world to the side that wanted to resist change and keep the game as is, and the ones who wanted it to try and reach for new heights. After being successfully implemented in German and Italian leagues, VAR played a big part at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The Spanish La Liga adopted VAR at the start of this season and the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League are next in line to adopt the technology.

All major sports these days have video review and soccer is joining the party. After postponing the adoption for the current season and choosing to go with 'non-live trials' instead, the EPL has decided to request the use of VAR from FIFA and the International Football Association Board starting in 2019/20. The UEFA Champions League did the same a few days ago.

Video Assistant Referee technology is part of the game now and we are able to move on with things in this regard. It will be interesting to see if one of the next moves by leagues and tournaments will be to punish players for suggesting the use of VAR to the referees by making small rectangle shapes with their fingers every game. It is happening a lot lately and perhaps we can do without it.

What do you think of VAR so far?

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