June 13, 2018 - While many of us have mixed feelings about VAR (Video Assistant Referee) being used for the World Cup in Russia, the refereeing bosses of FIFA believe that it will indeed help to officiate the competition.
Already tested in both the German Bundesliga and Serie A, FIFA director of referees Massimo Busacca insists officials are ready and VAR will help in Russia.
"We ran very fast getting it ready, but we are convinced of it," said Busacca at a press conference in Moscow. “We are ready, we know we must be ready as there can be no experiments here."
Busacca then compared VAR to the teams yearning for the title in Russia. "It's like a team who didn't play well before a World Cup, made mistakes but now plays much better," said the former Swiss ref.
"No national team arrives at the World Cup perfect - it's the same for us. We know that we have to improve."
Additionally, VAR officials will also wear a full refereeing kit while they’re in the viewing studio in Moscow so they feel like they’re a part of the action.
"VAR officials sweat with the stress — believe me," said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the referee's committee at FIFA. "They couldn't go into the box wearing a shirt, suit, and tie - that is why they will be wearing the kit,” Collina added, before saying that VAR will prove its worth in football today.
"Would you rather a wrong goal be celebrated or would you want to cut the celebration?" Collina asked reporters. "I think the outcome is what counts."
Collina then spoke about what actions the referees will take if there are racist incidents inRussia during the games.
"There is a three-step procedure and they are ready to go through with it if need be," said Collina. The 'Three-step procedure' means that in the event of racist or discriminatory chanting, the referee can halt the match and request an announcement for the chanting to stop. The referee can also suspend the match if the chanting does not stop. They can also stop the game completely if it still does not cease.
The referees in Russia will also be wearing special watches in the tournament made by Hublot, the official timekeeping sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Refs will use the Big Bang Referee 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia which runs Wear OS and has the same Intel Atom Z34XX processor that powers 2017’s Tag Heuer Connected Modular 45. The watch has a 35.4mm face, 400 x 400 AMOLED screen, Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a day of battery life from its 410mAh battery.
Running at roughly $5,200, the watch will display a countdown to the World Cup, and once the games begin, it can receive notifications of match start times and live match stats. The watch also vibrates and shows the word “GOAL” whenever a goal is scored.
Additionally, a special version of this watch will be worn by the referees at this year’s tournament to interface with goal-line technology.
You can watch a video of the entire conference below.
