Within the context of live-experiment periods on the implementation of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in football, in accordance with the protocol and guidelines provided for by the IFAB and with the authorization granted by FIFA, the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) started to promote training courses and to perform experiments with VAR. Since the “VAR project” has been initiated in Brazil, with the first offline experiments in the finals of the 2016 Campeonato Carioca (State of Rio de Janeiro Championship), the VAR have participated in a few other matches, such as the finals of the 2017 Campeonato Pernambucano (State of Pernambuco Championship), and matches in youth categories regional competitions.
In September 2017, there was a huge discussion on the possibility of starting the activities of the VAR in the first division of the Brazilian national championship (Brasileirão Série A). After a series of polemic situations in the matches, including a goal scored with his hand by the Corinthians’ player Jô, Marco Polo Del Nero, CBF President, publicly asked the CBF Refereeing Committee to start to count on VAR in this championship as early as in its next rounds. Nevertheless, due to the controversy raised among the clubs participating in the Brasileirão Série A - which diverged in their positions regarding this measure- as well as in view of the technical adjustments needed, the entity decided to not implement the VAR in the national championship this year, maintaining its original schedule of experiments.
In the meantime, in the continental and...
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