VAR to be used for UEFA Nations League finals
Monday 3 June 2019 13:37, UK
Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be used at the UEFA Nations League finals in Portugal, which begin on June 5.
It marks the first time UEFA have used VAR in a UEFA National Team competition.
The move comes after the technology was successfully used in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages and the UEFA Europa League final.
Live UEFA Nations League
A VAR team will be based at each stadium to support the referee and check for clear and obvious errors relating to goals, red cards, penalty-box incidents or mistaken identity.
The head coaches of the four participating nations were briefed in April by UEFA's chief refereeing officer Roberto Rosetti to prepare for the use of VAR at the finals.
England coach Gareth Southgate said: "We had positive experiences of VAR in the World Cup.
"My feeling both internationally and domestically is that, in the main, the big decisions have been right. The purpose of using VAR is to help the referees so I think it has been a help.
The purpose of using VAR is to help the referees so I think it has been a help.
"You will never get a system that is 100 per cent fail-safe but the key decisions that are clear and obvious have been rectified. For me, that is a positive."
Portugal's Fernando Santos hailed the system as "a step forward for all people who love football and fair play", but Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman stressed: "It is important that in the end it is still man who decides, not a machine."
England's Nations League semi-final match against the Netherlands takes place on Thursday at the Estadio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimaraes, live on Sky Sports Football.
