History will be made at the FIFA Club World Cup today where referees are going be allowed to get help from video replays/ pitch-side monitors.
Referees will for the first time in a FIFA competitive game be allowed to halt games to watch footage of “match changing” situations on the pitch side monitors or just rely on information being fed by Video Assistant Referees (VARs) watching broadcast feeds away from the field.
This differs from the previous trials where only assistant referees were able to view live pictures.
The International Football Association Board, confirmed the news in a statement saying,
“The VARs in a video operations room will only give information to the main referee “to help correct any game-changing decisions,”.
The game’s lawmaking body went on to clarify that the reviews would be limited to these four situations: [perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“goals being scored, penalties being awarded, players being sent off and cases of mistaken identity.”[/perfectpullquote]
They concluded explaining how “The philosophy underlying the experiments is not to achieve 100 percent accuracy for all decisions, as this would destroy the essential flow and emotions of football.”
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“The aim is to achieve ‘minimum interference, maximum benefit’, with the technology only being used for the defined match-changing situations and any serious missed incidents. In these cases, the question a VAR will consider is not ‘was the decision correct?’ but ‘was the decision clearly wrong?”[/perfectpullquote]
Former Dutch international Marco Van Basten, now FIFA’s chief of technical development also confirmed the news saying,
“Ultimately, these tests should prove invaluable in terms of determining whether the processes are sound or whether any further refinements are needed,”
“At the same time it’s important to remember that we are entering somewhat uncharted territory here, given that we are going live for the first time.”
Since experiments with replays were approved by soccer’s lawmakers in March, FIFA said “semi-live” trials in games have taken place with some information being transmitted to referees by VARs.
The managers and players will not be allowed to appeal to referees to review an incident and only the referee has the final decision after reviewing the fotage.
The trials will be continue after the FIFA Club World across seven countries and might be expanded globally by 2017.
This is the latest sign that proves FIFA is accepting and embracing technological changes around the world. It comes four years after the first use of goal line technology which has proved invaluable in many cases.
The Club World Cup, features champion club sides from each of Fifa’s six continental confederations, plus the domestic champions from the host nation. It begins today in Yokohama with Kashima Antlers taking on Auckland City. Africa will be represented by South African side Mamelodi Sundowns who are the current continental Champions.
Featured Photo: Courtesy of FIFA
