Fifa is set to press ahead with plans to have VAR checks on the awarding of corner kicks at the 2026 World Cup despite domestic leagues rejecting the idea for the wider game.
At an October meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab) – which determines the laws of the game – there was agreement that VAR could be expanded to cover incorrectly shown second yellow cards that lead to a red.
But Fifa’s proposal to review corners was rejected, meaning world football’s governing body will need to effectively create a trial to use it in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer.
The measures will be discussed further at the next Ifab meeting in January, but Fifa has regularly applied trials to its competitions. Semi-automated offside technology and referees announcing VAR decisions to the crowd are two examples, and it could use the same mechanism to start reviewing corners.
Pierluigi Collina, Fifa’s head of referees, has been a supporter of the change as part of a wider review of VAR protocol. Collina is open to going further, too, believing that any error that can quickly be identified by the VAR could potentially be communicated.
The former referee has highlighted an incident in the Euro 2016 final, when Portugal were wrongly awarded a free-kick in extra time for handball on the edge of the area that almost led to a goal. Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche was frustrated when his team conceded two goals from corners that were wrongly awarded earlier this season. But unless Ifab changes its stance, he will not get his wish for them to be reviewed in the future.
All leagues are under pressure to limit the delays as a result of VAR, and there is real opposition to anything that might make it worse.
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, who sits on the Ifab board, has previously told BBC Sport he is against it.
The VAR assessing wrongly issued second yellow cards is likely to be approved from the start of the next campaign because there are relatively few of those in a season – certainly compared to number of corners in a game. There are on average 10 corners a match in the Premier League.