2018 World Cup: nine Europeans among the 13 video assistant referees selected for the competition

Three video assistant referees from Italy, two from Germany, two from Portugal, one from the Netherlands and one from Poland compose the contingent of the nine European referees selected among the 13 VAR's (list below) that have been chosen for the 2018 World Cup in Russia by the FIFA Referees Committee on 30/04/2018.

These 13 referees will officiate only as video assistant referees during the World Cup. "The selection criteria for these VARs were primarily based on their experience as video match officials in their respective association and confederation competitions, in addition to their successful participation in several preparatory seminars and FIFA competitions, where they enhanced their VAR knowledge and skills by using the system," said FIFA.

In Russia, from 14/06 to 15/07/2018, each of the 64 matches will be supervised by a video assistant referee, who will have three assistants. "In addition to these 13 referees who will act solely as video assistant referees, some of the referees and assistant referees who have been selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia will also…