AIPS Media: World Cup referees were enabled, by the introduction of video assistance, to hit a 99.3pc ‘perfection rate’ according to FIFA refereeing chairman Pierluigi Collina.
But Collina has also indicated one particular flaw in officials’ initial orders. A total of 335 incidents had been checked by VAR so far in this World Cup. This includes all 122 goals.
This was not so much an issue of VAR but about what should, and should not, be permitted in terms of physical contact.
“We have had 14 decisions changed by the intervention of VAR, six penalty awards changed on the intervention of VAR – with one changed from a free-kick to a penalty and two penalty awards by the referee being reversed after a monitor review.”
The issue of penalty box man-marking was the only note of negativity conceded by Collina among his paean of praise for VAR.
“Before the competition we said VAR does not mean perfection, there could be some wrong interpretation of or mistake but 99.3pc is very close to perfection.”
The average time for a VAR review was 80 seconds which answered pre-finals concerns about time lost. Referees are under instructions to add time for video reviews though they do not add time for standard match interruptions such as free-kicks and throw-ins.
Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s director of refereeing, concluded: “After 48 games, we haven’t had a single scandal, and that’s very important.”
