Champions League to use video review in round of 16, says UEFA

Video review will be used to help referees in the upcoming UEFA Champions League round of 16, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin announced on Monday.

Successful testing of the video assistant referee (VAR) system moved up its introduction to February 2019, Ceferin said, having hinted last month that VAR could be used by the end of this Champions League season, reports Efe news.

"We are ready to use VAR earlier than initially planned and we are convinced that it will be beneficial for our competitions, as it will provide valuable help to match officials and will allow them to reduce incorrect decisions," Ceferin said in a statement on UEFA's official website, following a decision by the UEFA executive committee in Dublin.

VAR will also be implemented at the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final, the 2019 UEFA Nations Leagues Finals and in the final tournament of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2019.

The executive committee also confirmed that the 2018/2019 UEFA Nations League Finals are due to take place in Portugal from June 5-9, 2019.

--IANS

kk/sed