FIFA President Gianni Infantino hails video replays as 'football history'

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said "football history" was made by a successful test of video replays in France's 3-1 win over Italy in a friendly on Thursday.

While the test was labeled offline, Infantino cited an instance where video was examined when Italy protested for a perceived handball by Layvin Kurzawa following a header from Daniele De Rossi.

"You could see that the referee stopped play for a couple of seconds and during those seconds the two referees in the truck verified that there was no penalty," Infantino told Rai TV.

"We've seen football history here," Infantino added. "We're in 2016 so it's about time to try it."

Infantino hopes "video assistant referees" will be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Experiments are also being held in national club competitions this season, including Australia's A-League, the Bundesliga, the league and cups in Portugal, Major League Soccer, and Serie A.

Video replay officiating would be restricted to decisions on goals being scored, penalties being awarded, players being sent off, and cases of mistaken identity.

The only technology currently used in football is to rule on disputed goals.

"Of course, we can't resolve every problem that comes up but let's see if we can give the refs a hand on the key situations, without interrupting play too much," Infantino said.

Infantino is due to unveil more results from the Italy-France match in a news conference on Friday.