The quarter-final of the AFC Women’s Asian Championship between Japan and Thailand is the first Indian match to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology. Japan thrashed Thailand with a stunning 7-0 win and booked the semi-final ticket in the AFC Women’s Asian Championship.

Read also: Manchester United News: United stops selling Greenwood jerseys, Nike suspends sponsorship as well

Just before the quarter-final match, an announcement was made that the tournament will witness the use of VAR technology from the knockout matches. Though the technology was not that impactful for any important decisions, it surely marked a historical move in Indian football.

In the next match in Pune, the technology proved to be quite helpful. According to a VAR check, Korean Republic received a penalty, but Cho So-hyun could not net the goal. In the second half, there was once again a penalty check when Steph Catley seemed to have been pushed inside the box. But the VAR technology did not indicate any penalty. After some time, Ji So-yun netted the winning goal and defeated Australia 1-0.

Read also: I-League 2021-22 season to resume from 3rd March in Kolkata

How the VAR works:

6 video match officials have the access to 7 different live cameras for inspecting every live-action of the field of the ongoing AFC Women’s Asian Championship. Also, the VAR technology will review these 4 categories of decisions; goal/ no goal, penalty/ no penalty, Direct red card, and Mistaken identity while showing a red or yellow card.

The on-field referee will work along with the VAR official to take these decisions. Also, either 2 of the above-mentioned can initiate the review of decisions. In fact, the VAR official can ask the on-field referee to reverse their decisions. Meanwhile, the on-field referee can also initiate an On-Field Review (OFR) by slowing the match and then reviewing the screen footage. As a matter of fact, the on-field referee can choose to ignore the VAR’s advice.