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The All-India Football Federation (AIFF) is likely to introduce Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in domestic club competitions from the 2025-26 season. The introduction of VAR will bring a revolution in the decision-making process in both the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League. The acting secretary general of All India Football Federation, M Satyanarayan dropped hints about the potential introduction of VAR in domestic games.
The VAR technology was first introduced in FIFA events in 2016-2017, and it supports the decision-making process of the referee in four crucial game-changing situations. These include goals and offences leading up to a goal, penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty, direct red card incidents, as well as mistaken identity.
The USA and Australia were the first ones to introduce the VAR in domestic club games, after which several countries followed. M Satyanarayan told PTI in an interview, “There will be a big decision on the introduction of VAR very soon. We are doing a study on that. Introducing it next season might be difficult for the simple reason that FIFA has to approve the technology, there is a process. More than just getting the equipment, training of personnel takes a lot of time.”
Satyanarayan added, “It can be 2025-2026 season, but you never know. Even if we start now, it will take a minimum of 18 to 20 months.” Throughout a match, the VAR team continuously checks for clear and obvious errors related to four aforementioned match-changing situations.
