VAR Technology In Football, Here's How It Works And When To Use It

VAR illustration in football (Unsplash/Bence Balla-Schottner)

YOGYAKARTA - Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology has proven to be very helpful for referees as referees in football matches. Prior to this technology, all decisions depended on the referee's decision. However, sometimes the referee's performance is not optimal or there are still many gaps in the decisions taken.

VAR in football is applied to improve oversight and fair decision-making. VAR technology is likened to an assistant referee in leading the course of football. VAR is a solution to avoid wrong decisions from a referee.

VAR technology has increased the comfort and confidence of all elements involved in a football match. Disputes and doubts from football players, clubs, committees, and supporters in assessing referee decisions can now be minimized.

What is VAR in Football?

VAR is an assistive technology to support the performance of referees in making decisions in football matches. VAR began to be used in football starting in 2018. The way to use this technology is by reviewing replays that record incidents in a football match.

When there is an incident in the match, the referee will see the replay in VAR by slowing down the speed of the video recording. From VAR viewing from various angles, the referee can see more clearly what happened during the match.

VAR technology can help referee work significantly. Prior to the use of this technology, the percentage of decision-making accuracy was 82 percent. After VAR was implemented, the percentage increased to 94 percent.

VAR Operations in Football Match

VAR technology takes various angles to record the course of a football match. The number of rerun operators can be increased according to the number of cameras and video shooting angles.

VAR is operated in a special room that is connected to the referee on the pitch using a communication device. The VAR team consists of a video assistant referee who is assisted by three assistants, and four video-viewing officers from various angles.

The VAR team has access to 33 television cameras, of which eight can apply super slow-motion and four are ultra slow-motion. In addition, the VAR team was also connected to two offside cameras.

When VAR is needed, the referee will signal to players and staff at the match site. Replays and camera angles required for incident review are shown at the referee's request.

When is VAR Technology Necessary in Football Matches?

VAR replay checks are carried out when a decision has been made by the referee regarding an incident in a football match. The following is the use of VAR in football matches.

• Review the scoring process, if there is a possibility of a foul, handball, or offside.
• Reviewing the occurrence of penalties, seeing the possibility of violations, handball, and diving that is deliberately done to seek profit.
• Reviewing violations that have the potential for a red card, for example when there is an incident of a fight between players or there is harassment from player gestures.
• Re-checking the identification error of the referee, to ensure the awarding of a yellow or red card.

However, sometimes there are conditions where VAR technology is not used, namely when the referee or other match equipment misses or misses an incident.

That's an explanation of VAR technology in football. This technology has become a very important invention and development in football matches. VAR has helped reduce decision-making errors, so matches can run more perfectly.

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