Tehran Times - The Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) acting president Heydar Baharvand has said that the federation is planning to implement the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system in the Iran Professional League (IPL) from the next season.
In recent weeks many mistakes in the league matches have led the clamor for the change in footballing decisions and using the VAR system.
The football federation has not yet been able to use this system due to financial and infrastructural problems in the current season.
Baharvand confirmed that the implementation of VAR can help the Iranian football, however he insisted that setting up the system is a time-consuming process.
“Implementing the video assistant system requires a process which needs not only the FFIRI’s approval but also FIFA’s confirmation.
“Development work is currently underway and we hope to be able to use the VAR from the next IPL season,” he said.
The FFIRI had promised to implement the VAR system in the second half of 2019-2020 IPL season but failed to deliver its promise. Now again, the FFIRI acting president has made the same promise for the second half of the next IPL season.
“Due to the time-consuming process of setting the system, we hope to use it in the second half of the season next year,” Baharvand added.
In some leagues around the world, the system has already been used, while in other leagues the system still is in an experimental phase.
Asia and Oceania are using the system too. The Video Assistant Referee uses in China's Super League, South Korea's top two divisions, and Australia's A-League.