FIFA World Cup 2018 to have Video Assistant Referee Technology

Even after a lot of criticism, FIFA has decided to give a green light to Video Assistant Referee Technology (VAR) for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

VAR has been a hot topic of discussion amongst football fans around the world but all the speculations regarding its involvement in the upcoming World Cup were confirmed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Friday.

Infantino said after a meeting of the FIFA Council, "We are going to have in 2018, for the first time, a World Cup with VAR. He further added, “This has been approved and we are really very happy with this decision."

FIFA World Cup, which takes place from June 14 to July 15 will experience the video replay which will judge various important aspects during the games like crucial goal-line decisions, important penalty calls, and red cards.

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"What we want is to help and to give the referee the possibility to have extra help when he has to make important decisions, and in a World Cup we make very important decisions, the VAR is helping the referee and we are going to have a more transparent and fairer game, and that's what we want," Infantino stated further. 

VAR has not been universally well greeted, with UEFA yet to be convinced. "Nobody knows exactly how VAR will work. There is already a lot of confusion," said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, who emphasized that next season's Champions League will not seek VAR’s help.

He further added, "I am not at all against it but we must better explain when it will be used. We will see at the World Cup." There are not many problems with VAR, but as per its critics, its not the accuracy but the time it takes to make the decisions and many fans feel that the flow of a game is hampered.

"The intervention of VAR takes one minute on average in each game. If we lose a minute to correct mistakes, I think we have done something good," concluded Infantino.

The FIFA Council also decided that Peru will host the 2019 Under-17 World Cup with Poland staging the Under-20 tournament.