FIFA is set to press ahead with plans to have VAR checks on the awarding of corner kicks at the 2026 World Cup despite domestic leagues rejecting the idea for the wider game. At an October meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) - which determines the Laws of the Game - there was agreement that VAR could be expanded to cover incorrectly shown second yellow cards that lead to a red. But FIFA's proposal to review corners was rejected, meaning world football's governing body will need to effectively create a trial to use it in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer. The measures will be discussed further at the next IFAB meeting in January, but FIFA has regularly applied trials to its competitions. Semi-automated offside technology and referees announcing VAR decisions to the crowd are two examples, and it could use the same mechanism to start reviewing corners.
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's head of referees, has been a supporter of the change as part of a wider review of VAR protocol. Collina is open to going further, too, believing that any error that can quickly be identified by the VAR could potentially be communicated. The former referee has highlighted an incident in the Euro 2016 final, when Portugal was wrongly awarded a free kick in extra time for handball on the edge of the area that almost led to a goal. Using video assistant referee checks to rule on corners will not hold up matches, says FIFA's head of referees Pierluigi Collina. "The main criteria is no delay. With corners, there is a physiological delay because when a corner is given, normally you wait until the two centre-backs come up," Collina said at a briefing in Washington DC on Thursday when asked about potential delays. "It normally takes 10-15 seconds to get the attackers ready. In these 10-15 seconds, if the corner kick is wrongly given, everybody has the evidence that the start of play is wrong and to me, it's difficult to understand if they have the possibility to see that [the decision is wrong]. Why do we have to hide our heads under the sand and hope that nothing happens on the corner kick which is taken?" Collina cited the need to make correct decisions as the main reason for using VAR on corners. "I think we should all have as the objective to make correct decisions on the field of play," the former Italian referee said. "It would be a pity if the result of a competition is decided not by what the players do on the field of play, but by an honest mistake made by the decision-maker. This is what convinced us 13, 14 years ago to start thinking how to support referees [with technology]. So, if we can get this, to me, it's positive. We discuss and we will see what the outcome will be because I think the objective would be worth it." The measures will be discussed further at the next IFAB meeting. In October, IFAB already agreed that VAR could be expanded to cover incorrectly shown second yellow cards that lead to a red.
Source: BBC
