Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 7y

VARs could have prevented 45 of 59 wrong calls - German Football League

The German Football League (DFL) has said 45 incorrect calls could have been averted had the video assistant referee (VAR) system been in place during the Bundesliga's first 21 match days.

The Bundesliga will officially use the VAR system next season after being successfully tested during the first half of the current campaign.

The VAR is permitted to assist the match referee when there are clear-cut decisions in four separate situations: for irregularities in the case of a goal decision; penalty calls; red card offences unnoticed by the referee; and in cases of mistaken identity over a yellow or red card.

On Wednesday, the DFL released the results of its tests from the first 189 matches of the ongoing Bundesliga campaign and said that 45 of the 59 mistakes within the VAR's jurisdiction "could have been avoided" had the system been in official use.

Earlier this week, a three-day training session was held in Cologne, where referees used the VAR system in 12 trial matches with junior teams.

"On the basis of these results, we can now perform more specific testing," Angsar Schwenken, a member of the DFL and German FA boards, said. "We are absolutely on schedule for rolling out the VAR in time for the upcoming Bundesliga season."

David Elleray, the technical director of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), said earlier this month that improvements continue to be made to the system and that VARs could be in place for the 2018 World Cup.

Elsewhere, Eintracht Frankfurt coach Niko Kovac has said he believes German referees in general are too pedantic, and that the benchmark must be the officiating in "international games, Champions League and Europa League."

Frankfurt are at the bottom of the fair play standings in the Bundesliga with 56 yellow cards, four straight red cards and one sending off for two bookings.

However, Kovac said: "If you were to beam Atletico Madrid to Germany than everyone would throw their hands up in horror and ask 'What's wrong here?' It starts with the coach, who runs riot outside, and then also the players, but that's how you do it internationally."

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