Portuguese pay-television broadcaster Sport TV has revealed details of an innovative scheme designed to raise awareness of the video assistant referee system in the Primeira Liga, the top division of domestic football.
Sport TV is a rights-holder of the Primeira Liga, one of the early adopters of VAR, and will launch a new programme entitled Juízo Final.
In what it claims is an unprecedented initiative worldwide, Juízo Final will debut on Monday following the final match from the Primeira Liga’s round of games.
Focusing on Portugal’s big three teams, Benfica, Sporting and FC Porto, videos of controversial moments from their matches will be analysed using footage captured for the VAR system.
Sport TV chief executive, Nuno Ferreira Pires, said the programme will “allow supporters to form a more sustained, fact-based opinion, always remembering the official rules of football that lead to final decisions.”
He added to Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias: “Coupled with the fact that Portugal was one of the first six countries to test and implement the VAR, Sport TV wanted to make its contribution to being the first television broadcaster in the world to invest in this technology.”
Pires said that viewers will be able to participate in the show through sending in comments during its broadcast and participating in polls on social media.
VAR is used to determine contentious issues such as the award of goals and penalties, decisions over direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity. Leagues that use the extra technology feature a fifth match official who studies video footage of an incident before a decision is reached by the referee.