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Scottish FA confirm VAR will be used in top flight from next weekend

VAR checks Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli's goal during the Premier League match against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday April 9, 2022.
VAR checks Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli's goal during the Premier League match against Brighton at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday April 9, 2022.

The Scottish FA have confirmed VAR will be used in Scottish domestic football for the first time when Hibernian take on St Johnstone on Friday October 21.

Video assistant referees will be used in all Premiership matches from next weekend.

It will also be used at all Scottish Cup and Premier Sports Cup semi-final and final matches played at Hampden Park.

Production on all Premiership matches will also increase to a minimum of six cameras in order to “bring greater quality and depth to coverage of the league.”

The video assistant referees, who will be located at Clydesdale House in Glasgow, will assist on-field referees  in the event of a clear and obvious error or a serious missed incident in relation to: straight red cards, penalty area incidents, goals and mistaken identity.

Referee Srdjan Jovanovic checks the VAR screen during the Europa League quarter final, first leg soccer match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Barcelona at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, April 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Crawford Allan, Scottish FA head of referee operations, said: “We are delighted to have received approval to introduce VAR in Scottish football.

“We have worked extensively over a near three-year period to get to this point, have tested in every cinch Premiership stadium as part of the training process, and we are ready to go.

“As we have seen across the world, VAR has helped ensure a higher percentage of on-field refereeing decisions are accurate and that is a principle our match officials support.”

Calum Beattie, SPFL Chief Operating Officer said: “When 41 out of 42 clubs voted at our General Meeting in April to introduce VAR into the cinch Premiership, we said that the technology would be introduced after the World Cup.

“Our clubs made clear that they wished for VAR to be introduced as soon as possible and the Scottish FA deserve real credit for being able to make this announcement ahead of schedule.

“VAR exists to increase the accuracy of refereeing decision-making and while the experience of other leagues demonstrates that implementation will not be straightforward, we are all committed to assisting the Scottish FA to help it bed in as quickly as possible over the next few months.”

Beattie asked supporters to show patience while the new technology was being introduced.

He added: “Following the announcement of the biggest television deal in the history of Scottish football with Sky Sports, this is yet another step forward for the game in Scotland.

“The cinch Premiership is currently eighth in the UEFA coefficient rankings thanks to the recent success of our clubs in UEFA competitions and this development brings us into line with other comparable European Leagues.

“We would like to thank our 12 cinch Premiership clubs for embracing the process – and the significant financial commitment – and hope that everyone involved will show a degree of patience and understanding in the initial phase.”

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