There were 17 VAR reviews during the group stage.GETTY IMAGES
FIFA refereeing execs "celebrated what they described as a scandal-free World Cup for match officials," saying that the video replay system "helped achieve an accuracy rate" of 99.3% for decisions in the group stage, according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. FIFA Dir of Refereeing Massimo Busacca said, "After 48 games, we haven't had a single scandal, and that's very important." This World Cup is the first to use VAR. FIFA Referees Committee Chair Pierluigi Collina said that 95% of the decisions taken initially by referees were correct, and this was raised to 99.3% "thanks to the intervention of VAR." Collina: "We would have preferred to speak of 100 percent but 99.3 percent is something that is very, very close to perfection." He added, "VAR doesn't mean perfection, there could still be some wrong interpretation or mistake." He said that 335 decisions were checked in the 48 group stage matches and there were 17 VAR reviews -- 14 on the field and three by the VAR assistants. However, Collina "would not comment on individual decisions," such as the failure to award Serbia a penalty against Switzerland when Aleksandar Mitrovic "appeared to be held down by a defender." He said that the "average time taken for a VAR decision was 80 seconds" (REUTERS, 6/30).
