FIFA Executive Confirms VAR Will ‘Definitely’ Be Used At 2018 World Cup In Russia

Chris Wright

22nd, January 2018

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As the grand VAR experiment continues, a FIFA executive has all but confirmed that video-assistant refereeing will be implemented at the World Cup.

FIFA chief commercial officier Philippe Le Floc’h has said that VAR will “definitely” be used at the tournament, which begins in July.

IFAB, the governing body’s rule-making panel, met on Monday to assess recent trials ahead of video replays being sanctioned for use at Russia 2018.

Apparently, the only remaining task is to find sponsors for the on-screen VAR breaks as and when they crop up. This is FIFA we’re talking about, after all.

While an official announcement is yet to be made, when asked whether VAR would be used at the World Cup, Le Floc’h told Associated Press:

Definitely VAR will happen. I think it’s great to have technology in football because this is also a fair(ness) thing.

We are talking to various technological companies who are very interested with what we are doing on the technology side of things.

Good news if you’re into that kind of thing – the creeping transformation of ‘football as living, breathing competitive sport’ into ‘football as sanitised, televised entertainment’ – we guess.