Video assistant referee (VAR) technology was introduced to correct clear and obvious refereeing errors, but has since “morphed into something far greater”, said Kevin Baxter in the Los Angeles Times.At the 2026 Fifa World Cup there have been more than 100 VAR interventions in matches up to the round of 16. Most of these reviews were technically correct, but many of the infractions have been “so imperceptible yet so consequential” as to raise questions over whether “allowing a game to be decided by electronic evidence of a touch detectable only through Nasa-level technology” is “violating the spirit of the game”.
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