My Sports FIFA confident about semi-automated VAR for World Cup
www.standardmedia.co.ke | By Reuters
FIFA are confident semi-automated technology to assist with quicker Vid- for their last two seasons. They have, however, agreed to five substitutes eo Assistant Referee decisions could be ready for the World Cup in Qatar being permitted from next season. later this year, world football’s governing body president Gianni Infantino said on Monday. It was also decided to increase the maximum number of substitutes on the bench from 12 to 15 --- again at the discretion of the competition organTrials on the AI technology will continue in the coming months but Infan- ising body. tino said there was significant progress. These changes come into effect on July 1. “We tested it at the Club World Cup and it looks very good. We are very satisfied and we will take decision before the tournament,” Infantino told IFAB also discussed attacks on referees and the possibility of body cameras a news conference in Doha after the meeting of the International Football being worn which would act as a deterrent as well as evidence collection. Association Board, which regulates the Laws of the Game. “Referees will profit from the possible protection, which sadly still takes Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee, added: “I’m place in many parts of the world,” Infantino said. confident it can go ahead.” “We have attacks on them from players, officials, spectators and parents Semi-automated VAR, which will enable offside to be detected in seconds, and we have to be very firm in that respect.” uses automated ball detection and creates three-dimensional models of a player’s position instantly. He also said more trials on tweaking the offside law and making decisions less marginal would continue in junior tournaments in Italy, the NetherIFAB ratified, as expected, the use of five substitutes into the Laws of the lands and Sweden. Game. Also finding ways for better time keeping would be trialled. “It is not acIt was first introduced as a tweak to the rules because of the COVID-19 ceptable that a game of 90 minutes actually only have the ball in play for pandemic, but has now become permanent although its use in different 47-48 minutes on average. We have to look into that,” Infantino added. competitions will remain at the discretion of the body organising the matches. The Premier League, for example, had allowed five substitutes when the idea was first floated by FIFA in May 2020 but reverted back to three subs
TT 156 | June 14th- June 20th| 2022
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