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The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup begins later this summer with the United States looking to become the first ever nation to win the tournament three consecutive times.
The US has won a record four times since the tournament’s creation in 1991, with Germany the only other nation to have won more than once.
But while the soccer world will be tuned in to watch the best women’s players in the world gather down under, it’ll also be paying attention for another reason.
Tom Hamilton of ESPN reports that FIFA plans to use the Women’s World Cup as a testing ground for its new VAR (Video Assisted Referee) protocols.
Currently, referees review video of an incident and then make a ruling without explaining the ruling. But FIFA plans to change that going forward.
“IFAB announced a 12-month trial in international tournaments back in January having followed up on recommendations made in October 2022,” Hamilton reports. “After successful trials at the FIFA Club World Cup and men’s Under-20 World Cup, decisions made by officials at this summer’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand will be broadcast over the stadium’s loudspeaker system.”
The news is a boon for fans, who will now have a better understanding of referees’ thought processes.
Hamilton reports that this is a change FIFA had explored for months prior.
“Speaking back in February, Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referee committee, said: ‘We decided to have this trial because we received some requests to make the decision taken by the referee after a VAR intervention more understandable for all the football stakeholders, namely the spectators at the stadium, or in front of the television,'” Hamilton wrote.
“He added: ‘I have to say that there are other experiences in other sports, namely the NFL in American football, who have been doing this for quite a long time. It seems that the referees are pretty comfortable with this.'”
It’s a major change for the game. And, perhaps, a major step forward in viewer experience.