Football: Hong Kong Premier League chief backs limited VAR use, promises fair competition
- Premier League will employ VAR technology for first time in rejigged 2023-24 season – but it won’t be a wholly level playing field
- ‘We cannot cover one hundred per cent of matches with VAR, which people might say is not fair. But, overall, we think it is,’ HKFA official says
A senior Hong Kong football official insisted partial use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology would not compromise the integrity of the forthcoming Premier League campaign.
VAR was used for the first time in the city during the Manchester United Under-16s’ victory over a Hong Kong U18 side at Mong Kok Stadium on Wednesday.
But clubs will have to wait until Eastern’s meeting with Kitchee at the same venue on September 2 – the third week of the new campaign – for the technology’s Hong Kong Premier League introduction.
Hong Kong Football Association chief executive Joaquin Tam cited a Fifa law for the delay. He revealed plans for every member club to contest at least seven matches where VAR is employed during 2023/24 – but stopped short of guaranteeing a wholly level playing field.
“We cannot cover one hundred per cent of matches with VAR, which people might say is not fair,” Tam told the Post.
