FIFA president says 'football history' made as video used in France vs. Italy

BARI, Italy -- FIFA president Gianni Infantino said "football history" was made with a successful test of video replays in France's 3-1 win over Italy in a friendly on Thursday.

While the test was offline, Infantino cited an instance where video evidence was examined when Italy protested for a handball by Layvin Kurzawa following a header from Daniele De Rossi.

"You could see that the referee stopped play for a couple of seconds and during those seconds the two referees in the truck verified that there was no penalty," Infantino told Rai TV. "We've seen football history here. We're in 2016 so it's about time to try it.

"Of course, we can't resolve every problem that comes up but let's see if we can give the refs a hand on the key situations, without interrupting play too much."

Experiments are being held in national club competitions this season, including Australia's A-League, the German Bundesliga, the league and cups in Portugal, Major League Soccer, and Italy's Serie A.

Video replay officiating would be restricted to decisions on goals being scored, penalties being awarded, players being sent off, and cases of mistaken identity. The only technology currently used is to rule on disputed goals.

Infantino is due to unveil more results from the Italy-France match in a news conference on Friday but added that "video assistant referees" will be used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.


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