VAR to be used in Indian football for first time at Santosh Trophy semis

The Santosh Trophy semifinals on Wednesday will be the first time that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be used in Indian domestic football. Punjab will take on Meghalaya and Services will face Karnataka in the semifinals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the tournament goes abroad for the first time as well.

VAR has been used twice on Indian soil - in the 2021 AFC Women’s Asia Cup and in last year's U-17 Women’s World Cup. But it has not been used in Indian domestic football yet, though there have been several calls to have it in the ISL, the top-tier club league in the country.

The primary reason for not having VAR in Indian football is the affordability of the system. Only top countries across the world have the VAR system, like Japan, Korea, Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia - the hosts of the Santosh Trophy knockouts this year - within Asia.

The VAR technology assists referees on crucial moments like goals, penalty decisions and direct red cards.

AIFF President Mr Kalyan Chaubey said, “Today (March 1, 2023) will be the first time that a domestic Indian football game will be played with VAR. It is a pivotal moment and will teach us a lot on how we can perhaps inculcate this technology into our leagues too.

“These games will be a showcase of Indian football in its purest form without any foreign players. We must embrace and applaud it.”