The FIFA World Cup 2018 which kicks off in Russia from Thursday will have the VAR in full effect after having put it on a trial basis in England and other leagues across Europe.
But Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of Fifa’s referees’ committee has come out to say that the governing body of football have learned from the mistakes made during the VAR trials and all those errors have been rectified meaning the FIFA World Cup fans can expect a hiccup-free tournament.
Collina also revealed that the referees for the tournament have been advised to keep their flags down for close offside calls and instead let the VAR do the talking.
Collina said: “If you see some assistant referee not raising the flag, it’s not because he’s making mistakes,
“It’s because he’s respected the instruction to keep the flag down.
“They were told to keep the flag down when there is a tight offside incident and there could be a very promising attack or a goal-scoring opportunity because, if the assistant referee raises the flag, then everything is finished.”
There will 13 referees who will be in charge of the VAR decisions and Collina has said that all these 13 men will be dressed in the same outfits as their on-field colleagues.
“It’s because they sweat like they do on the pitch,” the Italian former referee said.
“It’s not like watching a game on the couch while drinking coffee. It’s very stressful so they can’t be dressed like a clerk.”
Apart from all ease of work that the on-field referees will have due to VAR, the fans in the stadium will also benefit from the decision.
The fans in the stadium will be shown video clippings of the VAR but only after the on-field referee has made his decision.
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