The Football Association of Hong Kong, China

VAR: as Bayern Munich’s Thomas Tuchel rages, fairness is queried in Hong Kong after Premier League sticks with partial use

Hong Kong Premier League introduced VAR for 2023-24, but 28 matches will have been played without the technology

City’s referees boss denies that persisting with inconsistent use of VAR risks the league’s integrity, and says there is ‘no going back’

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Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel remonstrates with an assistant referee in Madrid on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:30am, 10 May 2024

VAR controversies continue in the Uefa Champions League and English Premier League, yet Hong Kong’s referees chief said he had no concerns about another fudge in how the technology is used in the city.

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel may be sceptical, given the ways it was and was not employed in his side’s loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday, while England’s top flight rarely manages a match day without a row over the video assistant referee system.

But Albert Chiu Sin-chuen said he was satisfied that persisting with partial use of VAR again next season would not undermine the Hong Kong Premier League’s integrity.

Introduced in Hong Kong last September, VAR was employed in only 82 out of the present campaign’s 110 matches. Unless the league consists of fewer clubs in 2024-25, Hong Kong still will not have the equipment to use VAR in every fixture.

VAR is being used in the Hong Kong Premier League, but not at every match. Photo: Edmond So

Tsang Chiu-tat, head coach of champions-elect Lee Man, said it was “a must to have VAR for every game”, while Mark Palios, former chief executive of the English Football Association, told the Post a VAR halfway house threatened the league’s “sporting ethics and fairness”.