FIFA president Gianni Infantino would like to see Video Assistant Referees (VAR) used at the 2018 World Cup — the last time he hopes the event will be played with 32 nations.
VAR has been used in Italy’s last two international friendlies, against France in September and Germany on Tuesday, and Infantino is hoping the testing and evaluation stage will soon lead to its implementation.
“We’re working on it and I believe that there will be leagues using it already from next season,” Infantino told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “[Italian FA president Carlo] Tavecchio has been excellent about it in Italy, compliments to him.”
Marcello Nicchi, the president of the Italian Referees’ Association (AIA), believes VAR could be introduced into Serie A next season.
The system nevertheless has its detractors, not least since it was used to rule out a goal scored by Kevin Volland at the San Siro on Tuesday night for an offside which even replays were unable to resolve conclusively.
The assistant referees viewing that incident decided within five seconds that the Bayer Leverkusen forward was offside, but there were many doubts, not least with La Gazzetta saying the goal should have been given since the forward was in line with his teammate who passed the ball.
“Replays, replays, come on — did you see what happened with Volland?” Infantino said. “Anybody who was worried we would be left with nothing to dispute at the bar has been served. There is always going to be something to talk about.
“Seriously, I was sceptical about it but I thought ‘let’s try it’ and now I don’t see anything negative about it. Replays don’t resolve everything because a lot of situations are open to interpretation, but it does provide the security that there will not be any serious mistakes and errors which could compromise a game.
“The flow of the game doesn’t suffer — decisions are made within three seconds. Now we just need to find a way to communicate to the fans that the decision has been taken by viewing replays.”
Infantino is also going to push ahead with his plans to expand the World Cup to 48 nations, saying it is “crucial” for the development of the game.
“Football’s future depends on this and I hope the advisory panel follows me,” he said. “Just think, there would be 16 nations automatically qualified and the other 32 would go into a playoff, which would take place a week before the start, in the same location.
“That would mean 48 nations would still be interested in the tournament in June and their hopes would not end in November already. The World Cup is a social event which changes nations and puts smiles on people’s faces. It would be the biggest ever impulse to the game’s development.”
A revamp of the FIFA Club World Cup, which is currently played in December, is also on Infantino’s agenda.
“It’s a complicated formula as it is now, played in a difficult period without much enthusiasm for it,” he said. “In summer, from June 10-30, we could have the 32 best clubs in the world. It will still come down to the players’ health as they will need time to rest, but we have [Zvonimir] Boban and [Marco] Van Basten working on a solution.”
They are not the only former stars Infantino would like working on such projects either.
“I hope so — from [Diego] Maradona to Luis Figo, I hope these people give clubs the best guarantees,” he said. “It would be a think tank on crucial issues. From now on, business comes after football because if you put business first, you destroy football.”
