Starting with the Club World Cup in February, referees will conduct a 12-month trial across FIFA competitions in which they would explain to spectators and TV viewers the reasoning for their VAR judgements.
For the first time in football, officials will convey their decisions to spectators throughout the event. Referees will be given a microphone that connects them to the in-stadium public address system and broadcasters, but interactions with the VAR officials won’t be audible to spectators.
The experiment was announced on Wednesday by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that governs the sport, in response to suggestions given by its advisory panels in October.
The study, which will run for 12 months starting on February 1, may be used to support the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year. However, IFAB declined the opportunity to start experimenting with temporary concussion replacements, stating that “no consensus was established.”
The measure, IFAB said, will remain “under active review”, though the board “indefinitely extended the trial with permanent concussion substitutions”.
The IFAB also decided to reaffirm recently released rules on “deliberate play” in offside circumstances with regard to the current Laws of the Game.
That publication was the result of many high-profile events, including Mohamed Salah’s FA Cup goal against Wolves last week, and IFAB affirmed that “a player who is clearly in an offside position should not become ‘onside’ on all occasions when an opponent moves and touches the ball”.
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