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The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be introduced in Bundesliga 2 for the 2019-20 season. Officials of the Bundesliga 2 clubs reached this decision at a meeting in Frankfurt this Thursday. The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga will therefore now instigate all necessary measures to ensure that – after statuary implementation by the DFL members’ meeting in May 2019 – video assist technology is in place when the Bundesliga 2 season starts on July 26.
Bundesliga 2 stadiums will be connected to the Video Assist Centre (VAC) in Cologne via a fibre-optic link so that the VAC receives instant access to the high-resolution image material from the stadiums. Furthermore, the VAC will be expanded accordingly. Following a corresponding mandate of the DFL members’ meeting, a conceptual and offline test phase for the video assistant is already under way in Bundesliga 2 in the current 2018-19 season. In this context, a further 70 video assistants from the pool of the Bundesliga 2 referees and the Bundesliga assistants have already been trained for Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matches by the DFB (Deutscher Fußball-Bund).
In future, the same video assist technology which is already in place in the Bundesliga will also be used at all 306 matches of Bundesliga 2. The collaboration with the technology company Hawk-Eye Innovations, currently in its third season, will be extended and applied to Bundesliga 2 in line with a resolution of the DFL Board. Ahead of this decision the DFL conducted an open, transparent and impartial selection procedure. In the context of an extensive test phase, the proposed technology of five different providers was tested under live conditions. Considering the four assessment criteria of technical quality, functionality, implementation concept and economic efficiency, Hawk-Eye Innovations came out on top. The continued cooperation with Hawk-Eye Innovations is scheduled for three years until June 30, 2022.
Following a comprehensive prior test phase ahead of the 2018-19 season, the Bundesliga clubs opted to introduce the video assistant from the 2018-19 season onwards. This season, more than 60 incorrect decisions have been prevented by use of the video assistant so far.
