The International Football Association Board have confirmed that Italy have been chosen as one of the federations to test their new video refereeing technology called Video Assistant Referees or VAR for short over the next two seasons.
“The FIGC has been selected, along with other Federations, to test the use of the VAR [Video Assistant Referees] system,” the governing body of Italian football announced in a statement.
“In the meeting on Friday April 8 held in London to change the rules of the game, explain the project and get confirmation by trial by national associations, the FIGC reiterated its interest once again.
“To this end, President Carlo Tavecchio will hold a meeting with the Lega Serie A, Serie B and Lega Pro in order to convey all the technical and operational requirements necessary for the commencement of the trial next season.
“The aim is to arrive at the next meeting, scheduled for May, with the formalisation of the commitment according to the protocol drawn-up jointly with the IFAB and FIFA.
“The project submitted to the Federations is divided into two stages: the first ‘offline’ for the 2016-17 season, and the second ‘live’, probably for the 2017-18 season.”
FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio reacted positively to the news saying:
“We were among the first supporters of the use of technology on the field,” Tavecchio reminded.
“We believe we have all the requirements to offer our contribution to this important trial.
“In compliance with the fluidity of the game, innovation will improve the whole system as it has already demonstrated through the positive impact of goal-line technology.”
The technology will not apply to every incident that occurs during a game. Instead, it will be an aid concerning goals, red cards, mistaken identities and penalties.
It remains to be seen how it will impact the flow of the game as play won’t be stopped on every occasion, while there could also be the option for coaches to challenge certain decisions and request a review.
Although it seems inevitable that it will result in games becoming longer, the trial will be aimed at ironing out any issues as well as ultimately testing if it will work without hindering the important aspects of the game itself.
What do you think about this? Think it will help referees get decisions right? Or will it just slow down the game too much?
