Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used to great effect at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Reuters
Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was used to great effect at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Reuters

Uefa set to introduce VAR for Champions League and Europa League next season



European football's governing body, Uefa, plans to use video assistant referees (VAR) in the Uefa Champions League from next season but is unlikely to use the technology this term, president Aleksander Ceferin said on Friday.

Uefa has so far resisted implementation of the VAR system, which allows key incidents to be reviewed with the use of video replays and was used at the World Cup in Russia this year.

Ceferin said the intention was that VAR would be introduced next season from the final qualifying round onwards and also in the annual Supercup match between the Champions League and Europa League winners.

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It would then be used in all group stage and knockout stage matches.

"The plan for now is to use it from next season ... with the first match of next season which is the Supercup," he told reporters. "VAR is not completely clear for now... but we also know there is no way back any more.

"It is much more problematic than it looks. We really have a huge territory. The plan is to do it for next season but let's see what happens. I don't want to predict anything 100 per cent."

On this season's final, he said: "I'm not ruling it out but for now, it doesn't look like it will happen."