Live From FIFA World Cup: FIFA's VAR Makes Its Eagerly Awaited Debut Video Assistant Referee features dedicated offsides cameras, improved comms By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, July 10, 2018 - 10:29 am
Print This Story
Story Highlights
The FIFA World Cup is an event that breeds video-technology innovation. For the 2018 edition, FIFA TV is showcasing the first-ever major sports event produced in UHD HDR, with advances in streaming and even next steps in virtual reality. No innovation, however, is having a more profound effect on this tournament than the debut of Video Assistant Referee, or VAR.
It has been the talk of the tournament so far, and reviews from across the soccer world have been overwhelmingly positive, especially as the tournament has progressed. The system has been largely effective and helped bring clarity to many plays, especially those in the box that lead to penalty kicks, that may have bogged down previous tournaments.
FIFA's Sebastian Runge has played a key role overseeing implementation of VAR at this year's FIFA World Cup in Russia.
VAR, which FIFA began testing more than a year ago at the FIFA Club World Cup 2016 in Japan, has grown by leaps and bounds and has even had the benefit of learning from similar implementations by domestic leagues in Germany (Bundesliga), Italy (Serie A), and the U.S. (Major League Soccer).
We had the big advantage of being able to learn from all of these experiences, says Sebastian Runge, group leader, football innovation, FIFA. We were in close contact with all of these different leagues to try to pull all of that learning together to come up with this setup. So far, we are very happy.
How Does VAR Work?
There are two VAR control rooms at the International Broadcast Center (IBC) in Moscow, with two full VAR stations in each. Each station has numerous monitors, including the live match feed, various isolated feeds, and playback.
A VAR team comprises the lead VAR and three assistants: AVAR1, AVAR2, and AVAR3. All are licensed FIFA match officials.
The lead VAR's job is to watch the main-game-camera feed and, on a quad-split touchscreen monitor that he controls, review incidents when action calls for it. The lead VAR is the only member of the team in the control room who can recommend that the lead official make an official review, but it's ultimately the on-field officials' call whether to head to the sidelines to use a monitor stationed at each venue.
As for the AVARs, AVAR1's job is to also monitor the main game feed, particularly when the VAR needs to look away from live action to review a replay. AVAR2 is positioned at a station dedicated to covering offsides (a new feature described in more depth below). AVAR3 watches the live match feed of the Host Broadcast Services (HBS) production while also providing support on communications between the VAR and the on-field official.
What Video Feeds Does the VAR Have Access To?
All 12 stadiums across Russia are connected via fiber to the IBC and the VAR control room. Inside the control room, the VAR team has access to all the individual camera feeds generated by HBS to produce the live match. That includes eight super-slow-motion feeds, four of which are ultra-slow-motion. There are also two locked-off cameras to monitor offsides (more on that a little later).
The camera complement expanded as the tournament moved into the Knockout Stage. An ultra-slow-motion pole camera has been added behind each net. The various slow-motion cameras are, naturally, very helpful in certain VAR-worthy situations, such as establishing point of contact between players on a possible foul.
The only feeds that the VAR control room does not receive are those deemed unnecessary, such as the aerial camera from the overhead helicopter, the beauty-shot camera, and any interview cameras onsite.
Improving the Monitoring of Offsides
One of the biggest additions made to the system prior to this World Cup was the introduction of an Offsides Station in the VAR control room.
Two VAR control rooms, each featuring two VAR setups, are located at the IBC in Moscow and connected via fiber to all 12 venues across the country.
Two additional static cameras have been installed at all 12 stadiums, positioned between the top of the 18-yard box and midfield to give what are intended to be clear views of any offsides call. The raw feeds of these cameras are exclusive to VAR (HBS does not have direct access to them and can broadcast only replays provided by the VAR room), and a member of the VAR team is dedicated solely to reviewing offsides video.
Even with 37 host-broadcast cameras on the production already, we identified this area [as] not covered well enough to make [an offsides] decision because of the viewing angle, says Runge. We've been very happy with it. It's been a big plus for VAR.
The offsides-monitoring solution is integrated with goal-line technology. A computer-generated offsides line is created and can be used to help the VAR and the on-field official make a judgment on offsides.
New Vendor Brought in To Refine Comms
A major obstacle in the early days of VAR was communications between the on-field official and the VAR control room. According to Runge, it was, perhaps, the greatest challenge faced when the system was used for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic in 2017.
Following that tournament and FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 soon after, FIFA knew it needed to fine-tune comms prior to the big event here. It was also at that moment that the decision was made to split audio and video. Having full confidence in the video workflows, FIFA saw significant value in working with a company whose true expertise was in audio technology.
We invested quite some time and some money to make sure communications is working, says Runge, because you c
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Live From FIFA World Cup: FIFA's VAR Makes Its Eagerly Awaited Debut Video Assistant Referee features dedicated offsides cameras, improved comms By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
