European football’s governing body UEFA has confirmed that video assistant referees will be used in the Champions League knockout rounds from February but it will be VAR with a UEFA twist.
Some countries have been using VAR since 2016, when global football’s rule-making body IFAB first approved guidelines for the use of video replays and started a two-year pilot scheme.
Once that was completed, world football’s governing body FIFA decided to use VAR at this summer’s World Cup in Russia, where it was widely considered to be a success.
UEFA, however, initially decided to wait for at least another season before rolling out the system in its competitions – a stance shared by the Premier League.
But at a meeting of its executive committee in Dublin on Monday that approach was ditched and it was confirmed that VAR will also be used in the 2019 Europa League final and next summer’s European Under-21 Championship and Nations League Finals, which both feature England.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: “We are ready to use VAR earlier than initially planned and we are convinced that it will be beneficial for our competitions as it will provide valuable help to match officials and will allow to reduce incorrect decisions.”