VAR in Scottish Premiership: Talks explore introduction before World Cup break

19th Jul 2022 | Source: BBC

VAR is being used at the women's European Championship this summer

Discussions on speeding up the implementation of VAR in the Scottish Premiership are ongoing after the issue was raised at the SPFL AGM on Monday.

Every SPFL club, bar Greenock Morton, backed the introduction of video assistant referees in an April vote.

A mid-campaign launch was then scheduled when the top flight resumes in December after the World Cup.

The SPFL and Scottish FA are committed to that date but are open to an earlier start if the technology allows.

In June, SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell explained that VAR will be run "in the background" of matches, using six cameras, prior to its formal introduction.

"I would want to have it introduced as soon as we possibly can do it," he told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound.

The total cost of £1.2m per season is to be met by the 12 Premiership clubs on a sliding scale, with the winners paying around £195,000 and the 12th-place team £67,000.

VAR is also set to be introduced in the League Cup semi-finals and final in January and February of next year.

The VAR officials, working from a central hub, will all be current or recently retired Category 1 officials.