A match between Cruzeiro and Deportivo Lara as part of Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores 2019 at Mineirao stadium on Mar. 27, 2019. (Photo by Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)
The South American Football Confederation has selected Hawk-Eye to serve as its video assistant referee technology provider through 2022.
Hawk-Eye, which provides similar services for tennis, rugby, NASCAR, and other soccer leagues around the world, won the contract from a pool of five competitors. The company also provided video replay technology at the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup.Broadcasting Televisao, a Brazilian audiovisual company, Crescent Comms, which provided audio solutions alongside Hawk-Eye during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Media-luso, a Medapro entity based in Portugal, and VOGO SA, a French software company, were all also considered.
The announcement comes one year after CONMEBOL said it would bring VAR technology to the South American league. In 2018, it selected Mediapro to provide VAR for major competition games held through the end of 2019. VAR was first used in the quarterfinals for the 2018 Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana, and Recopa. This summer’s Copa América will feature it for the first time.
CONMEBOL accepted bidders through mid-February and then narrowed its selection down to two competitors: Hawk-Eye and Media-luso. It ultimately chose to replace Mediapro with Hawk-Eye after considering both the technical proposals and pricing. Earlier this year, Hawk-Eye also won a contract with the Football Federation of Rio de Janeiro.
“HAWK-EYE is an innovative leader in sports technology, pioneer in the implementation of the VAR,” CONMEBOL said in a statement.
The contract covers the biggest CONMEBOL competitions from 2019 to 2022, including Conmebol Libertadores, Conmebol Sudamericana, and Recopa, and will additionally cover the Recopa held in 2023.
As part of the deal, London-based Hawk-Eye will also supply equipment to the league’s Technological Arbitration Training Center, located at the CONMEBOL headquarters in Luque, Paraguay. The center will be used to train referees for CONMEBOL competitions and will be open to referees from other member associations.
