Premier League confirms VAR system technology to be introduced from 2019/20 season
The English Premier League have announced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system will be introduced from the 2019/20 season after agreement 'in principle' from the league's 20 clubs.
After initially holding off implimenting the technology, the Premier League will debut VAR pending a go ahead from The International Football Association Board (The IFAB).
The league said in a statement on Thursday that a Shareholders’ Meeting had been held in which "key learnings" from VAR implementation in leagues around the world, including Spain, as well as the FA Cup and League Cup in England, were discussed in detail.
Premier League clubs have agreed in principle to introduce Video Assistant Referees (VAR) to the competition in the 2019/20 season More: https://t.co/7quBY0hQ7fpic.twitter.com/HSBDrgXhQD
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 15, 2018
The statement read: "The Premier League’s non-live testing programme will remain in place for the rest of this season, with a continued emphasis on those Saturday afternoons which have several matches being played concurrently, and developing a clear protocol for communicating VAR decisions to fans.
"The League will now formally make a request to the International Football Association Board and FIFA to use VAR next season."
VAR was also used at this summer's FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia, the first time it had been introduced to a major football tournament.
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The system can assist the match official review decisions relating to goals, and whether there was a violation in the lead up to it, which includes offside or a foul; penalty decisions; straight red card decisions; and cases of mistaken identity, in awarding a red or yellow card.
