IFAB approves extension of VAR broadcast trial

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - The International Football Association Board (IFAB) at its 137th annual meeting in London on Saturday approved to extend trial to broadcast the video assistant referee (VAR) decisions to fans inside stadiums and television audiences.

The 12-month trial introduced at the FIFA Club World Cup 2022 in Morocco will continue at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia from May to June.

A decision whether the trial will continue at other FIFA tournaments will then be made.

An IFAB statement said the decision was made "to further improve communication to fans in stadiums."

The meeting, chaired by Football Association chairman Debbie Hewitt, also agreed that a more accurate calculation for 'additional time' at the end of matches, a feature of last year's World Cup in Qatar, should be followed in competitions around the world.

The session also gave updates on the successful application of semi-automated offside decisions and VAR 'light,' which aims to create more affordable VAR systems to enable the use of VAR at all levels of the game.​​​​​​​