Spanish football officials want to begin experimenting with video assistant referees (VARs) as soon as next season. League officials have requested the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to contact the International Football Association Board (IFAB) about adopting video replay technology on a trial basis.
“On August 12 La Liga sent a letter to the Referees’ Technical Committee of the RFEF inviting them to start the experimentation with the video referee’s assistant,” a La Liga statement read.
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“La Liga, very involved in the technological development of football, explains the project, promoted by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) at its 130th Annual General Meeting held in Cardiff in March, is in testing until 2018 or 2019,” the letter read.
“La Liga understands that the video assistant referee makes a decisive contribution to building a fairer football, avoiding human errors that are unjustifiable in a technological society like that of today.
“It is also consistent with the needs of Fair Play, the spectators and society as a whole, as understood by the highest bodies in world football who support this project.”
La Liga is initially looking to adopt video replay technology for next season’s Spanish Super Cup and the Copa Del Rey for next year, as these competitions are best suited to the trials due to their formats.
Video playbacks are already being used in the United States on a trial, with the football associations of Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and Australia all confirming that they will be making use of the technology in some of their competitions.
The video assistant referee system was used for the first time in an international match in the friendly game between France and Italy on Thursday, which France won 3-1.
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“It was a first at this level with national teams. We’re moving forward. It was promising,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who also hinted at the possibility that the system could be implemented for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“If it works then of course the entire footballing world would be happy to have this system to help referees during the biggest tournament in the world.”
La Liga still hasn’t implemented the use of goal-line technology, which is already in use in the EPL and Seria A, but it seems they want to get in on the VAR trial before too long. With the trials being adopted widely around the world, surely it’s only a matter of time before it is made standard practice in all major leagues.
