VAR Is Coming To 2022 CONCACAF

Football's Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has been added to CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football to help referees in several 2022 competitions.

CONCACAF decision was prompted by the 'successful implementation of VAR in 2021 competitions like the CONCACAF Champions League, Gold Cup and Nations League Finals.

"Following the successful implementation of VAR in the 2021 Concacaf Nations League Finals, the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup, and the latter stages of the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, the Confederation has confirmed that it will implement the technology in several of its men’s and women’s competitions throughout 2022."

The Confederation said that progress on VAR had been "considerably" delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now has enough VAR-qualified referees and venues to expand the technology's use.

The use of VAR technology in football has had many critics despite receiving approval for World Cup in 2018. However, it was welcomed after it helped make some important decisions in football matches.

The technology will be used in all remaining CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the men's and women's U20 Championships and the W Championship.

"The remaining Concacaf Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022, which include six rounds of matches across the January and March FIFA international windows, will all include VAR as the region’s top eight men’s national teams compete for the 3.5 Concacaf qualification spots to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,"

"Concacaf will also implement VAR in the Concacaf Men’s U20 Championship, scheduled for June 2022, which will qualify four teams to the FIFA U20 World Cup Indonesia 2023 and two teams to the Summer 2024 Paris Olympic Games."