New VAR system hailed as 'excellent' by football fans

It’s looking set to be the biggest tournament in the history of the Women’s game, and a small part of footballing history has already been made at the Women’s World Cup.

People tuning into the opening games have seen VAR used like never before at a senior tournament.

Changes are being trialled by FIFA this summer and now people inside the stadium and at home are able to hear the officials after the video assistant referee reviews take place in real time.

While it was previously trialled at the Men's Club World Cup and the Men's U20 World Cup, it’s the first time it’s been used at a senior level international tournament.

The first moment fans got to see it in action came during New Zealand’s game against Norway, when a penalty was given to the Kiwi's for handball following a VAR review.

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After watching the footage back on the pitch-side monitor, referee Yoshimi Yamashita addressed the crowd and said "the decision is... penalty".

The decision was greeted with cheers by the crowd, and the new VAR format could be a regular feature football fans will get used to seeing in most formats soon.

One of the people who really liked the new changes was Ian Wright, who was watching in the stands.

The former England and Arsenal legend posted a video of himself reacting the decision, saying: "I like the way the referee done that!"

He wrote in the caption: "That new VAR business was good."

Others praised the step, but said they wanted to hear more information about the review while it was taking place, not just after the decision was made.

“This was [an] excellent start - but maybe hearing the discussion too when reviewing like in cricket and rugby,” one said.

Another added: “Thought it might be the VAR talking through the decision with the ref, not just the ref saying what the decision is. When the ref goes to the screen we know the decision is likely to be given so hardly need it announcing when fans can see the ref anyway.”

One more said: “Good step in the right direction but we need to hear the conversation between room & ref.”

“Step in the right direction. Maybe this particular decision didn’t really need any more explaining. But would be good to hear more on some other decisions over the coming days,” a user commented.

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