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dpa
Florence
Potential video assistant referees (VARs) at the World Cup are preparing themselves at a workshop in Italy, and the programme includes controversial scenes such as a penalty awarded in Germany early in the week via VAR after the half-time whistle.
"The incident happened on Monday and we discussed it yesterday," World Cup refereeing boss Pierluigi Collina said on Wednesday.
Collina said referees have already received clear guidelines how to act in such cases at the World Cup in Russia.
In Monday's incident, the VAR alerted the match referee after the half-time whistle that a Freiburg player had handled the ball. A penalty was given for opponents Mainz, and the teams had to be called back on to the pitch from their dressing rooms.
The incident led to controversy in Germany and raised eyebrows elsewhere, but all had been according to the rules.
VAR decision have not proven fully foul-proof in live tests in countries like Germany and Italy but the ruling body FIFA is using the technology at the June 14-July 15 World Cup in Russia.
Collina said that 13 referees will exclusively act as VARs, plus some other referees who will also have VAR duties.
Collina said that the VARs will not have more than one match per day because:"It is not like sitting on the couch and sipping coffee [while watching a game]. They sweat like on the pitch."
The list of VARs is all but finalised, Collina said. He gave no names but said three were Italians, two Germans, and countries including the Netherlands, Portugal and Poland also represented.
At the workshop in Coverciano for the 36 referees and 63 linesmen which runs until April 27 a video operations room has been set where the match officials are trained for the World Cup.
At the tournament in Russia, three VARs and a linesman are to follow the games and help the match referee, if necessary. To make communication easy these teams are selected based on the language they speak.
Another refereeing chief, Massimo Bussaca, said that VAR won't be"a solution for everything" but"a good support" for the match officials.
He said it would be best if VAR wasn't needed in Russia, looking back at Brazil 2014 when the technology was not yet available.
"I don't recall any major mistake looking back at Brail. We had certain situations but thankfully the referees did a good job," Busacca said.
