Are human officials changing?
Collina denies that referees on the pitch have been irrelevant by these technological advances, claiming officials are still involved in the process.
For example, new technologies can only notify officials when the player is offside. It is not possible to answer questions such as whether the player is interfering with an opponent or assess whether a foul or handball has been played.
“This is called semi-automatic offside because the final decision is still being made by the people involved in the video match,” Collina said.
“The purpose is to get the answer as soon as possible. This answer is very accurate. Var needs to validate the final decision before notifying the referee. That’s why it’s called semi-automatic offside. Because it’s final. There is still human intervention to make a call.
“Our purpose is to prepare the referee as much as possible to avoid the use of technology. But technology is to avoid mistakes. Even the best referees can make mistakes. He. Is a human being. We know that.
“That’s why we implemented the system with tools that could actually reduce the chance of human error affecting the outcome of the match.”