FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that "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. Infantino: "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. We've seen football history here" (AP, 9/2).
La Liga has asked the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to adopt video replays, "beginning in next season’s Supercopa and Copa del Rey." La Liga reportedly sent a letter to the RFEF’s Referees’ Technical Committee on Aug. 12, inviting it to "start experimenting with video assistant referees." La Liga also asked the RFEF to "discuss experimenting the technology" with the Int'l FA Board in the '17-18 Copa del Rey and Supercopa, "these being the most appropriate competitions for these tests" (FOOTBALL ESPANA, 9/4).
Kosovo had six of its squad "cleared to play" by FIFA on the day of the country's first competitive match. The Balkan territory, which declared independence from Serbia in '08, became a FIFA member in May, "promoting some Kosovans, who have played for other nations, to ask to change teams." The six players cleared were Amir Rrahmani, Valon Berisha, Alban Meha, Herolind Shala, Milot Rashica and Samir Ujkani (BBC, 9/5).
The head of the referees' union, Prospect, said that "he does not know of any officials being asked to lie in their post-match reports" to the FA, following former Premier League referee Mark Halsey’s claims he had been put under pressure from PGMOL, the body in charge of Premier League refereeing, "to falsely say he had not seen controversial incidents." Alan Leighton was "responding to the controversy caused by tweets sent by Halsey," with regards to the three-match ban handed to Man City's Sergio Agüero for elbowing Winston Reid during Man City’s victory over West Ham (London GUARDIAN, 9/4).
