Fifa wishes to extend its trials for the deployment of Football Video Support, a simplified alternative to VAR. With this system, coaches have two video challenges per match.
After VAR, you may soon discover FVS. ESPN reveals that Fifa wants to carry out new experiments for Football Video Support, called video support in French. This system is a simplified alternative to video assistance for refereeing: during a match, the coach of a team – as in an American football match for example – can force the referee to consult the images to contest a decision. Two “Review Requests” are available at kickoff. As in tennis with challenges, the appeal is not lost if it is successful.
The FVS is intended for minor competitions which have limited human and financial resources. This device is much lighter on a technical level: it works with only four or five cameras and without a video referee. Only a technical operator is mobilized to calibrate the images and show them to the central referee, who must make his decision alone. Another particularity: the referee cannot decide for himself to consult the images.
“Considered worthy of future use”
After carrying out tests during the Blue Stars/Fifa Youth Cup then during the U20 and U17 Women's World Cups, Fifa wants the International Football Association Board (Ifab), the body governing the laws of the game , authorizes him to extend the tests. According to Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA referees committee, several federations have come forward to take part in the experiments from the 2025-2026 season.
“We are only at the beginning of the trial. (…) So far we have not noticed anything unexpected,” said Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA referees committee. , cited by ESPN.
After the two Women's World Championships, satisfaction surveys were carried out among coaches. “The FVS was well received and considered worthy of use in the future,” says Collina, who has already seen some trends among coaches. “It may happen that they do a sort of last try for an incident that happened at the very end of the match, but that doesn't necessarily have a tactical advantage,” he observed.
