VAR to be used in Champions League and Europa League from 2019-20 season, Uefa announces

European football's governing body will also deploy the technology at the Euro 2020 and Nations League finals

(Getty)

Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be used in the Champions League and Europa League from next season, Uefa’s executive committee has announced.

European football’s governing body will also deploy the technology to help referees in the 2019 Uefa Super Cup in Istanbul, the 2020 European Championship and the Uefa Nations League finals in 2021.

Announcing the decision on Thursday, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said: “We're confident that introducing VAR in August 2019 will give us enough time to put in place a robust system & to train match officials to ensure an efficient, successful implementation of VAR in the Champions League, the world’s flagship club competition.”

Uefa's executive committee voted in favour of introducing VAR at a meeting in Nyon on Thursday morning. The technology will be deployed from the playoff stage of next season's Champions League and from the group stage of the Europa League.

VAR has been trialled in England's domestic cup competitions (Getty)

The system, which allows referees to review video footage of key decisions such as the awarding of goals, penalties and red cards during matches, was widely used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia with mixed results.

VAR is already in use across the majority of Europe's major leagues this season, including La Liga, the Bundesliga and Serie A, though Premier League clubs voted in April to extend trials of the system rather than introducing it for the 2018-19 campaign.

“The decision came after comprehensive discussions regarding the progress made in VAR trials in English football and key learnings from the many competitions elsewhere using it,” a Premier League statement issued at the time said.

“The clubs agreed advanced testing will continue to the end of season 2018-19 to make further improvements to the system, especially around communication inside the stadium and for those following at home and around the world.”