CLUB WORLD CUP
FIFA Referees’ boss, Pierluigi Collina explains update on VAR decisions
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The implementation of live communication of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision to the public both at the stadium and those watch through broadcast has began with the FIFA Club World Cup which is on-going in Morocco.
The first referee to implement this is Ma Ning after after checking for a possible penalty which he did award but sent off Auckland City FC player Adam Mitchell at the Club World Cup opening match between Auckland City and Al Ahly at the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier.
The decision to take VAR to the next level was taken at the Annual Business Meeting last month in London.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the law-making organ for football, followed up on the recommendations made by its Football and Technical Advisory Panels.
As a result, the public explanation of VAR decisions is being experimented for a period of 12 months.
It was in similar circumstance that ‘kick-in’ was experimented in place of ‘throw-in’ at the 1993 U-17 World Cup in Japan.
Chairman of FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina hopes that this will make VAR interventions more understandable for spectators.
“We decided to have this trial because we have received some requests in that sense, to make the decision taken by the referee after a VAR intervention more understandable for all the football stakeholders, namely the spectators at the stadium or [in front of] the television.”
Noting that there may be language barrier, Pierluigi remarked that “we we thought this Club World Cup would be perfect because it’s a multilanguage competition, with teams and, of course, spectators involved coming from all six of the different continents.
“I think we will offer something helpful, I hope, so my thoughts are definitely positive in this regard. I hope the spectators will benefit from this. We are at the beginning, it’s the first time we’re doing it, so certainly it might not be perfect from the very beginning but I’m confident that the outcome will be positive.”
He went on to state the objective of the experiment which is to protect the referees and also not to make their job too difficult or to not put too much extra pressure on them.
“That’s why it’s only once the decision has been taken that the communication will start.”
Pierluigi who was for six consecutive times from 1998 to 2000, acclaimed as the “World Best Referee” by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics explained that the public explanation of VAR decision is not completely new.
“I have to say that there are other experiences in other sports, namely the NFL in American football, they have been doing it for quite a long time.
“It seems that the referees are pretty comfortable with this.”
Continuing, He remarked: “We’ll start with the Club World Cup and then we have already thought about implementing it at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia. Depending on the outcome, there might certainly be the possibility of having this at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
“But I think it’s better to wait and see the outcome of the trial in the other competitions before saying anything in that regard.”
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final will be held at the New Jersey home of the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets, world soccer’s governing body announced on Saturday along with the venue lineup for the revamped tournament.
The expanded 32-team tournament, which will feature leading clubs from around the world, will be held in 12 stadiums around the United States next year from June 15-July 13.
The open-air stadium for the final, which opened in 2010 and has a capacity of 82,500, held the Copa America Centenario final in 2016 when Chile denied Lionel Messi’s Argentina for a second time in a penalty shootout.
The venue was also announced earlier this year as the site of the 2026 World Cup final.
The other venues, mostly a mix of NFL and Major League Soccer stadiums, are in Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington and two in Orlando.
The Club World Cup will have eight groups of four with the top two teams from each group advancing to the single-match knockout stage from the round of 16 to the final.
FIFPRO’s European member unions have started legal action against FIFA over the Club World Cup due to concerns over the impact of a crammed calendar on players’ health and performance.
-Reuters
Twelve stadiums have been announced as venues for the expanded Club World Cup holding in the United States next year. There will be 32 clubs in attendance – a far departure from the regular eight.
The tournament kicks off on Sunday, 15 June 2025, with all roads leading to the MetLife Stadium in New York.
The final match will be in New Jersey on Sunday, 13 July 2025, just over a year before the venue stages the FIFA World Cup 26 final.
This venue is joined by 11 more – Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta), Bank of America Stadium (Charlotte), TQL Stadium (Cincinnati), Rose Bowl Stadium (Los Angeles), Hard Rock Stadium (Miami), GEODIS Park (Nashville), Camping World Stadium (Orlando), Inter&Co Stadium (Orlando), Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia), Lumen Field (Seattle), and Audi Field (Washington, D.C.).
“The FIFA Club World Cup 2025 will feature 12 fantastic stadiums where a new chapter in football’s global history will be written by great players from the 32 best clubs in the world,” Infantino, the FIFA president stated.
“This new FIFA competition is the only true example in worldwide club football of real solidarity and inclusivity, allowing the best clubs from Africa, Asia, Central and North America and Oceania to play the powerhouses of Europe and South America in an incredible new World Cup which will impact enormously the growth of club football and talent globally.
“This is about opportunity and hope for those who need it most, and also about prestige and true football for those who make our sport shine.”
With the draw set for December, just two of the 32 teams are yet to be confirmed: one from South America, the other representing the host country.
The expanded FIFA Club World Cup which has put the organisation of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in disarray, is beginning to crumble.
Cup holders, Real Madrid, have indicated their intention not to participate.
Earlier on, the umbrella body of professional footballers has also frowned at the fixtures congestion which the novel competition appears to have caused.
According to Reuters’ report, Real Madrid will decline FIFA’s invitation to participate in the Club World Cup as the governing body have undervalued the compensation the 15-times Champions League winners should receive, manager Carlo Ancelotti said.
FIFA’s revamped international tournament, with 32 teams, is set to take place in the United States at the end of next season, with Europe’s best-ranked 12 clubs among those invited.
Ancelotti, one of the most successful football managers in Europe, has won the Club World Cup three times and the Champions League five times.
“FIFA can forget it, footballers and clubs will not participate in that tournament,” Ancelotti told Italian daily Il Giornale in an interview published on Monday to coincide with his 65th birthday.
“A single Real Madrid match is worth 20 million and FIFA wants to give us that amount for the whole cup. Negative. Like us, other clubs will refuse the invitation.”
Ancelotti, who led Real to a Champions League and LaLiga double last season, said there had been a lot of pressure on managers lately but he had managed to stay passionate about his job.
“I see nothing particularly new, this has always been our job but the case of (former Liverpool manager Juergen) Klopp is significant. The pressure continues, the burden of responsibility becomes too heavy, obsession takes over,” he said.
“I keep my passion, that’s how I live the match, the game, my job; I’ve always carried this balance with me. I’ve overcome moments that weren’t always positive; after my experience with Everton I was off the radar, they thought I was finished, I was old.”
With all three European club competitions expanded to 36 teams from next season, the Club World Cup has come under scrutiny for saturating the football calendar.
In May, FIFA said they would not consider rescheduling their 32-team Club World Cup after global players’ union FIFPRO and the World Leagues Association (WLA) threatened legal action if they did not review their plans.
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