Legendary former referee Pierrugi Collina, now FIFA’s chief referee, has confirmed that VAR will be used to determine second yellow cards and corner kicks.
Coach Pierluigi Colina has promised there will be no further delays even if additional VAR checks are carried out during the World Cup.
FIFA referee chief Colina has confirmed that he is prepared to introduce video assistant referees to consider decisions on second yellow cards and corner kicks if the games are postponed to next summer.
Colina said VAR would be used to rule on controversial issues, as a wrong decision on a corner kick leading to a sending off or the winning goal could ruin the entire World Cup.
Colina, a former World Cup referee, said: “I repeat what I have said before. We are in the process of discussion. As always, there are opinions, different opinions. I think we should all have the goal of making the right decisions on the playing field.”
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“It would be a shame if the outcome of a competition was determined by the honest mistakes of the decision-makers rather than by the actions of the players on the field of play. This is what led us 13 or 14 years ago to start thinking about how to support referees (with technology).”
“So, if we can achieve this, it’s a positive for me. We’ll talk and see what the outcome is, because I think the objective is worth it.”
“The main criterion is that there is no delay. In the case of corner kicks, there is a physiological delay, because when a corner kick is awarded, we usually wait until the two centre-backs come up. It usually takes 10-15 seconds for the attackers to be ready.”
“In those 10 to 15 seconds, if a corner kick was awarded by mistake…everyone has evidence that the start of play was incorrect, but for me it’s hard to see how it could turn out to be that…why should we hide our heads under the sand and hope that nothing happens with a corner taken?”
“This is my opinion as we live matches in important competitions, hoping that what the players do on the field will decide the outcome… If we can avoid situations like this, I will be happy. But the main idea is that we cannot tolerate delays! No one wants to introduce any more delays.”
Mr. Colina also stressed that they are working hard to eliminate delays and are trying new processes to eliminate wasted time.
They made an attempt during the Arab Cup tournament to prevent players from returning to the pitch for two minutes if they were injured.
“We haven’t had any accidents in eight games, which means it’s working,” Colina said.
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