History was made in World Cup 2018 as during the France vs Australia match on June 16th, VAR technology was successfully used for the first time in the tournament.

The Group C match France against Australia in Kazan was suffering from a deadlock at 0-0 in the 58 minute when Antoine Griezmann went down in the box following a challenge from Australian player Joshua Risdon.

The referees Andres Cunha allowed the game to continue at the very first time while he received an alert from his earphone and suddenly called for a time-out. After watching a replay on the pitch-side monitor, Cunha overturned his decision to award the penalty to France with Griezmann stepping up and scoring.

VAR is making its debut at the world cup tournament. This time, FIFA has established a single operational and controlling center in Moscow, which is connected to the entire stadium in the World Cup via fiber optic network.

There are four video officials, along with numerous assistants, who will watch the games and contact the referees if they need to watch a replay.

Moreover, VAR can be used in four different scenarios, red card, penalty, a scored goal or for this case, mistaken identity if the wrong player has been booked or sent off. 

Actually, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was committed to promoting VAR technology in football tournaments for a long period of time. Pressure has been steady for several years ever since Frank Lampard’s goal in the 2010 World Cup against Germany that wasn’t allowed despite clearly crossing the line. Eventually VAR was on trial at the Confederations Cup in 2017 and officially took effect on the World Cup 2018.