For the first time in years, FIFA seems ready to take the next step to make football a fair game.
During the 130th Annual General Meeting, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) decided to introduce tests involving the use of video assistant referees, as well as a fourth substitution during games that go into extra time, according to a press release issued by football's governing body.
Other changes to the rules of the game woud involve a shift in the "triple punishment" of sending off, penalty and suspension when an obvious chance to score is denied illegally.
But the most relevant aspect of this changes came when the IFAB approved the use of technology to solve "incidents that have been identified as game-changing". Goals, penalty decisions and red card incidents would be analyzed looking to make the game more fair. Added to those, the "mistaken identity" incidents in which a referee wrongfully books or sends off a non-guilty player would also be included in those moments when the video assistant referees would be used. None of these incidents would affect playing time, since these are situations when there's a "dead ball".
Only one of the refs in each game is intended to have access to this technology. The "Video Assistant Referee" (VAR) is meant to have the authority to tell the ref about any situation he may have missed.
Here's a quick explanation of those incidents in which the Video Assistant Referees would be used.
The video assistant referees will be tested for two years, in order to determine the impact on the game itself, in order to provide the IFAB the needed tools for their decision-making process. Live experiments should take place in a number of countries in the 2017/2018 season.
All laws of the game modified during today's meeting will be effective as of June 1 2016.
