Asian Football Confederation (AFC) today announced that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be used for the first time in the AFC Champions League (ACL), starting from the quarterfinal stage onwards.
This, after last month's announcement that Malaysia will be hosting the remaining matches of Group G and H of the competition this season, as well as the subsequent Round of 16, quarterfinal and semi-final matches.
While it has not been confirmed which specific venue the matches are going to be but with Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) being in Group G, Sultan Ibrahim Larkin is likely to be one of the venues to be used.
VAR is already widely used throughout the major football competitions in the world from the 2018 World Cup in Russia to the UEFA Champions League competition which Bayern Munich won only earlier this morning.
The VAR system that AFC will use for the ACL will only be limited to four game-changing decisions or incidents - goal or no goal, penalty kicks, direct red cards and mistaken identity decisions.
Next Match
Getty
Thus far within the Asian continent, VAR has only been used in the 2019 Asian Cup and the 2020 AFC U23 Championship competitions, making the ACL the third competition to get a technological advancement.
In Malaysia, VAR has yet to be implemented for a variety of reasons. The high cost incurred is one of the major reason for the technology not to be used within the domestic calendar of M-League football.
But the decision to play the knockout matches in Malaysia meant that VAR will be used for the first time in the country, albeit not in a competition organised by Malaysian Football League (MFL).
Yet, it will be a valuable opportunity for the league organiser as well as Football Association of Malaysia's refereeing department to get a closer look at how it is implemented to prepare for the eventuality of VAR becoming part of Malaysian football.
