Infantino confirms use of VAR at 2018 World Cup

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed that video assistant referees (VAR) will be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The VAR process has been trialled in domestic competition and at the 2016 Club World Cup, while it helped to correct two decisions in a high-profile international friendly between France and Spain in March.

And, reflecting on positive early results, Infantino has said the VAR system is a necessity in order to avoid errors at the highest level.

“We will use video refereeing at the 2018 World Cup, because we’ve had nothing but positive results so far,” he said at a congress of the South American Football Confederation.

“In 2017, when everyone in the stadium or at home can see within seconds if the referee made a mistake, we can’t have a situation where the only one who can’t see it is the referee.”