Football Video Support (FVS) is a system in football designed to help referees correct decisions by reviewing specific incidents upon a coach's request, rather than continuous monitoring by a video assistant referee (VAR). This system was first officially used at the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania in 2021.
There are four categories of decisions that can be reviewed.
The Video Support procedure involves several steps:
Football Video Support (VS) was first introduced in futsal sport at the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2021 in Lithuania. A notable instance of its use was during the final match between Portugal and Argentina, where the Argentine player Borruto was sent off following a successful challenge by the Portuguese team. [2]
After the successful implementation in futsal, FIFA also used the new system at the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup in 2024 and then announced the implementation for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup 2024. [3]
While both Video Support and VAR aim to correct clear and obvious errors, their implementation and operational procedures differ significantly:
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players each, who primarily use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is to score more goals than the opposing team by moving the ball beyond the goal line into a rectangular-framed goal defended by the opposing team. Traditionally, the game has been played over two 45-minute halves, for a total match time of 90 minutes. With an estimated 250 million players active in over 200 countries and territories, it is the world's most popular sport.
Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt like a basketball court, smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
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In association football, the referee is the person responsible for interpreting and enforcing the Laws of the Game during a match. The referee is the final decision-making authority on all facts connected with play, and is the match official with the authority to start and stop play and impose disciplinary action against players and coaches during a match.
Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred, both shot and broadcast live.
In the sport of association football, fouls and misconduct are acts committed by players which are deemed by the referee to be unfair and are subsequently penalised. An offence may be a foul, misconduct or both depending on the nature of the offence and the circumstances in which it occurs. Fouls and misconduct are addressed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game. A foul is an unfair act by a player, deemed by the referee to contravene the game's laws, that interferes with the active play of the match. Fouls are punished by the award of a free kick to the opposing team. A list of specific offences that can be fouls are detailed in Law 12 of the Laws of the Game ; these mostly concern unnecessarily aggressive physical play and the offence of handling the ball. An infringement is classified as a foul when it meets all the following conditions:
Ľuboš Micheľ is a retired Slovak football referee.
In association football, an assistant referee is an official who assists the referee in administering the Laws of the Game during a match. Although assistants are not required under the Laws, at most organised levels of football the match officiating crew consists of the referee and at least two assistant referees. The responsibilities of the various assistant referees are listed in Law 6, "The Other Match Officials". In the current Laws the term "assistant referee" technically refers only to the two officials who generally patrol the touchlines, with the wider range of assistants to the referee given other titles.
In association football, goal-line technology is the use of electronic aid to determine if a goal has been scored or not. In detail, it is a method used to determine when the ball has completely crossed the goal line in between the goal-posts and underneath the crossbar with the assistance of electronic devices and at the same time assisting the referee in awarding a goal or not. The objective of goal-line technology (GLT) is not to replace the role of the officials, but rather to support them in their decision-making. The GLT must provide a clear indication as to whether the ball has fully crossed the line, and this information will serve to assist the referee in making their final decision.
In association football, a ghost goal is either a goal wrongly awarded despite the ball not having crossed the goal line, or a goal wrongly not given despite the ball having crossed the line. In an attempt to combat ghost goals, rules allowing goal-line technology (GLT) were passed by the International Football Association Board in 2012 and have consequently been introduced for some football competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and Premier League. The video assistant referee (VAR), introduced in 2018, provides an alternative system to GLT, and is cheaper to introduce and operate than the FIFA qualified GLT systems.
In gridiron football, replay review is a method of reviewing a play using cameras at various angles to determine the accuracy of the initial call of the officials. An instant replay can take place in the event of a close or otherwise controversial call, either at the request of a team's head coach or the officials themselves.
Bastian Dankert is a German football referee who is based in Rostock. He referees for Brüsewitzer SV of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Football Association. He is a FIFA referee, and is ranked as a UEFA second category referee.
Néstor Fabián Pitana is an Argentine former football referee who refereed at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2015 Copa América and 2018 FIFA World Cup. He oversaw the opening match of the 2018 FIFA World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Pitana was appointed to take charge of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final between France and Croatia at Moscow on 15 July 2018. He became the second referee to take charge of the opening game and the Final in the same tournament.
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The 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was held in Lithuania. It marked the first FIFA tournament ever hosted by Lithuania and the third Futsal World Cup hosted in Europe; the others being 1989 in the Netherlands and 1996 in Spain.
The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official in association football who assists the referee by reviewing decisions using video footage and providing advice to the referee based on those reviews.
Futsal began in the 1930s in South America as a version of association football, taking elements of its parent game into an indoor format so players could still play during inclement weather. Over the years, both sports have developed, creating a situation where the two sports share common traits while also hosting various differences.