Though been in limited use years before, VAR was legally recognized by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018.
VAR (Video Assistant Referee) is an officiating system that utilizes video review to help match officials enforce FIFA’s Laws.
How Does It Work ?
Usually, a team of three individuals, the video assistant referee, the assistant video assistant referee, and a replay operator, work together to reevaluate the main referee’s decision by watching and rewatching video footage of relevant occurrences in a football match. They work from a video operation room with various monitors showing different camera angles. They may assist the referee only when an obvious error or serious neglected incident occurs concerning the following:
- Goal/no goal
- Direct red card
- Penalty/no penalty
- Cases of mistaken identity
The process for reevaluating the referee’s decision commonly works in either of two ways: the VAR team recommends a review, or the main referee can request a review after making a decision. In the former situation, if the VAR decides that a clear error has been made, they must notify the main referee. However, the referee always makes the final decision, either after he has carried out an on-field evaluation of the incident in question or based on the data provided by VAR.
2022 FIFA World Cup
Following a successful debut in Russia four years earlier, the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup is the 2nd edition of the tournament to use VAR.This season is even better, as FIFA has approved new technologies powered by artificial intelligence to aid the decision-making process regarding offside calls at the World Cup in Qatar.
Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) is an extension of the VAR system; It employs 12 devoted cameras to track the on-pitch positions of every player. For instance, during an offside decision, 29 data points of the players involved are transferred to the video match officials, who manually scans through the automatically-created offside line based on the players’ positions to ensure an accurate and objective decision.
In addition, the animations produced by the SAOT is made available to all broadcast partners to display on TV while being broadcasted inside World Cup stadiums.
Another new technology is the ‘Al Rihila’ match ball which features an inertial measurement unit sensor positioned at the very center of the ball. The sensor sends data to the Video operation room (VOR) 500 times per second, allowing VARs to make decisions accurately by monitoring the ball’s position.
This season, a total of 24 video match officials, 69 assistants, and 36 referees will take responsibility for the 64 games at the World Cup, with all six FIFA confederations represented.
Thankfully, major continental club competitions like the UEFA Champions League, Women’s Champions League, Europa League, Copa Libertadores, and more now utilize VAR; what other technologies do you think can be employed in future games?
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Photo by Abigail Keenan
