VAR

The VAR (Video Assistant Referee), which in spanish could be translated as "assistant to the referee via video", is a system implemented by FIFA whose  function is to help the referee determine if there has been an infraction that he has missed or he was wrong in his signaling, the first time it was used was in the 2016 world club held in Japan.

As the name implies, the VAR is based on the viewing of the plays through video screens and is composed of a human team and a real-time viewing and recording system, from different angles, of all situations occurred during the match.

In the VAR room, wich may be located in the field itself or elsewhere, even hundreds or thousands of kilometers away, is a professional arbitrator (VAR Referee), who is in uninterrupted communication via radio with the Field Referee, and several audiovisual technicians, this video recording system, managed by the audiovisual technicians under the orders of the VAR Referee, allows to review the plays with different camera shots, and as many times as they need to, in case of detecting an error, be communicated to the match referee as soon as possible.

The audiovisual technicians follow the instructions of the VAR Referee and analyze with different systems the offside situations, the transfer or not of the goal line ball or the field limits, fouls, etc., and, if detected any infraction not signaled or different from that indicated by the Referee of the field, to contact him and to transmit this situation to him.

The main problem that would arise with the VAR is the slowdown of the game, because when all the plays were analyzed, the game would lose its rhythm and would be tedious for the spectator. For this reason, FIFA regulated the use of the VAR so that only the possible errors in the plays that ended in a goal, those that were the object or should be the object of a direct red car, the cards shown to a wrong player and the penalties,in addition to considering that they should communicate to the Referee only the clear plays, not those that present reasonable doubts once viewed in the video.

Once a possible error has been detected, the VAR  informs the Referee that there is a play that must be analyzed in depth and the game is stopped.

A conversation is initiated between the Referee and the VAR that, in case of observing an offside prior to a goal or that the ball has not crossed the goal line or the limits of the field before a goal, communicates to the Referee which it is the correct decision and is signaled by the Referee, since they are plays that are not interpretable, as a ball that crosses a line or an offside is determined by technical means.

In the case of a previous lack of a goal, a penalty not indicated or any situation that requires interpretation, the VAR informs the Referee that play must be reviewed, the Referee goes to screen that is in the immediate vicinity of the field game, asks VAR technicians to give the necessary shots and from the angles determined and decides whether or not to rectify the above.

VAR

¡An essential tool for a fairer professional football!