Sunday 19 / May / 2024
Muscat: World soccer governing body FIFA has approved the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the Oman Football League.
In what would be a major fillip to domestic football, the Oman Football Association (OFA) on Monday announced that they are hopeful of introducing the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in the Oman Football League and the His Majesty’s Cup next season (2023-24).
Speaking to Times of Oman, Hilal al Sinani, the CEO of the OFA said, “We are pleased to inform that FIFA, the world governing body, has given the approval to us to introduce the VAR technology in the domestic football.
“We had a delegation from the FIFA visit us in July and they had a series of meetings before giving us the go-ahead. It is a technology that is gaining huge importance and we at the OFA are eager to bring the technology for the good of the game in Oman.”
While there are many challenges that the OFA is likely to face in launching the VAR technology, the lack of VAR-approved referees is a big task. At this moment, Oman has just one international referee in Ahmed al Kaf.
Khalid al Hinai, the head of OFA referees committee, admitted that there are major challenges but they are hopeful of overcoming them before the start of the next football season in Oman, likely to be in August-September, 2023.
“We have shortlisted 24 referees already who would be put through courses and workshops to be approved as VAR referees. It would take a period of nearly seven months for their training. We need separate budget and funds to cover that. Also we need extra finances to set up VAR rooms at the various stadiums in Oman.
“To get the VAR introduced in Oman next season, we are hoping to get the backing and support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth and the Ministry of Information with Oman TV to be the one of the main players for the technology to be implemented.”
Hinai said that Oman suffered a setback recently after the Gulf Cup organising committee hosting the forthcoming Gulf Cup in Basra, Iraq, reduced the number of referees from Oman as “we have only one VAR referee.”
It may be mentioned that the domestic leagues in the Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait have already introduced the VAR technology.
Hinai said: “If all goes fine, then the VAR will be introduced from the first round of the Oman Football League and the plan is to have four of the seven matches of each round covered under it. We also plan to have VAR in the His Majesty’s Cup matches from the round of 16 onwards. This would mean that we aim to cover more than 120 matches in the next season.”
Hinai echoed the sentiments of the CEO of the domestic football governing body that financial backing is required to kick-start the ambitious project.
VAR technology
A video assistant referee (VAR) system is a support tool for officials. The use of video match officials (VMOs) in football was included in the 2018/2019 edition of the Laws of the Game and was successfully used at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Since then, the system has been implemented in over 100 competitions worldwide.
The VAR is a technology deployed in football that intervenes in decisions made by the referee and requests for an on-field review with the use of video footage and a headset for communication.
The VAR team supports the decision-making process of the referee in four match-changing situations: Goals and offences leading up to a goal,
Penalty decisions and offences leading up to a penalty decision, Direct red card incidents only (not second yellow card/caution), and mistaken identity.
