ABSTRACT
Throughout its history, the game of football has, in general, been reluctant to use technologies that have been adopted more readily by other sports. The way the game is played is, basically, very similar to how it was played in its early days, with very few modifications having been made to the Laws of the Game. In the same way, refereeing looks very similar to that carried out by the first match officials in charge of games that took place on rudimentary pitches. Technology, however, has, little by little, been creeping into a game that moves enormous amounts of money and is followed by millions of people around the world. Regarding help given to refereeing in football, a few years ago Goal-Line Technology (GLT) was introduced, as were devices for communication between the officials, initially a gadget that emitted a signal by means of vibration, and more recently headsets that allow for multiple and simultaneous dialogue on an open channel. Much more recently, however, we have seen a great step forward with the introduction of the VAR system in football, a complex, difficult matter, one that has provoked a great many opinions both in favour and against, and which is the subject of this chapter.
