Fifa set to use VAR for corners at World Cup

Despite domestic leagues rejecting the idea for the greater game, FIFA is set to continue with plans to have VAR checks on corner kick awards at the 2026 World Cup.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab), which determines the game’s laws, agreed that VAR could be expanded to include incorrectly displayed second yellow cards that result in red cards at an Ifab meeting in October.

However, Fifa’s proposal to review corners was rejected, so next summer, the world’s governing body will need to successfully conduct a trial in the US, Mexico, and Canada.

Fifa has consistently applied trials to its competitions, but the measures will be discussed further at the upcoming Ifab meeting in January.

It could use the same mechanism to begin reviewing corners, such as semi-automated offside technology and referees announcing VAR decisions to the crowd.

As part of a more thorough review of VAR protocol, Fifa’s head of referees Pierluigi Collina has backed the change.

Collina is willing to go further, noting that the VAR may be able to quickly fix any errors.

However, he won’t receive his wish for them to be reviewed in the future unless Ifab changes its mind.

There is real opposition to anything that could worsen the delays caused by VAR, and all leagues are under pressure to do so.

Former Ifab board member Mark Bullingham, the head of the Football Association, has previously stated his opposition to it to BBC Sport.

Due to the relatively few second yellow cards in a season, the VAR’s decision to assess incorrectly issued second yellow cards is likely to be approved right away, especially given how few of them are in a game. In the Premier League, there are ten corners on average per game.

Domestic leagues face a real problem with resources, especially as you drop down the tiers, whereas Fifa has the option to appoint as many video referees as it wants for its showpiece event.

In group-stage games at the World Cup in 2022, five players worked in the VAR room, compared to the norm for domestic competitions, which had only two.

Fifa appointed an offside VAR, a support VAR, and a support assistant VAR in addition to the assistant VAR.

Fifa can also ensure that domestic leagues have access to the necessary cameras to make quick decisions.

The ball’s connected technology, which is not available to leagues, would allow the VAR to know when the ball touched it last in close situations.

For domestic leagues, nothing could be replicated of this.

Even at the Premier League level, cameras have proven problematic to capture every goal line. When the VAR failed to have the evidence that the ball was out, this was the case with Newcastle’s contentious winning goal against Arsenal two years ago.

The Scottish Premiership, the Dutch Eredivisie, as well as the second divisions in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain would all be required to check corners in the protocol if they were added.

Because leagues lack the tools to make quick, uniform decisions, it would cause significant delays.

A referee cannot alter a restart decision, even if they realize it is incorrect after play is resumed, one of the laws of the game’s fundamentals that applies to all levels.

The game must then continue once the corner has been taken and the play has ended.

Every corner will have to be reviewed by the VAR, which will, in the majority of cases, be clear.

Fifa believes it has the resources to make all decisions quickly, from VARs to cameras to ball technology.

It will depart from VAR protocol, which only considers red cards, red cards, and mistaken identity in four distinct areas. The list of corners being awarded is expected to grow in the World Cup next year.

If only the VAR had checked the award of corners that directly lead to goals, it might be that the attacking team would have taken it as short knowing that the VAR would have disallowed a corner kick if the referee had known.