UEFA has said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic meant plans to use VAR in the European 2022 World Cup qualifiers had to be abandoned after a weekend in which Cristiano Ronaldo’s anger at being denied a late winner for Portugal against Serbia highlighted the lack of technology to help officials.
“In 2019, UEFA had proposed to FIFA the implementation of VAR in the current World Cup qualifiers. The impact of the pandemic on operational and logistical capabilities led UEFA to delay the implementation of VAR in the Europa League group phase as well as to withdraw the proposal to implement VAR in the 2022 European qualifiers,” UEFA said in a statement.
Video assistant referees are now set to come into the Europa League group stage as of next season.