VAR in India? AIFF hoping to bring technology in subcontinent

Listen to Story The All India Football Federation has written to the International Football Association Board, the body that determines the laws of the game, to explore the possibility of India participating in the trial of the ‘Additional Video Review System’ (AVRS). Popularly know as VAR, the technology was first used in FIFA events in 2016 17, is used to support the decision making process of the referee in four game changing situations: goals and offences leading up to a goal, penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty, direct red card incidents, and mistaken identity.

"Our prime objective here is to reduce the margin of error by empowering match officials with the technology to assist in their decision making," All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey said in a media release. VAR has raised a lot of debate in European football. The technology has often been controversial for their inconsistency and odd decision making process.

"While we will continue to work to implement VAR, I feel that, to begin with, AVRS can be a great option for a country like India. AVRS would help us study the impact of the technology, train our match officials with the new concept, and assess its adaptation by players, coaches, and clubs alike," he added.

The premier Indian football league Indian Super League has been often criticised for extremely poor refereeing standards. AIFF's move to try and bring in VAR might be aimed at curbing the errors. The President's recommendation aims to consider the extension of the existing technical infrastructure to accommodate an 'on demand' video review request from the referees through a multi angle, multi camera broadcast feed.

Several countries across the globe use VAR in their domestic club competitions after it was first introduced in Australia and the United States. However, its mass adoption is limited due to financial and infrastructure requirements set out in FIFA’s Implementation Assistance and Approval Programme (IAAP)..