A FIFA VAR training course for referees was held at the Football House of the Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) on 10-14 June.
As fitness is essential for a referee, the specialists took part in practical activities. This included a physical test in accordance with FIFA standards. Experienced FIFA instructor Farhad Abdullayev led the course.
To make the VAR training sessions as realistic as possible, KFF chose to use the Academy system — a comprehensive simulator that works with multiple live camera signals. The compact 1U version of the SLOMO.TV's Academy generates video feeds similar to those from a real OB van at the arena.
FIFA takes great care to ensure that VAR implementation and training procedures are in line with international protocols. Therefore, FIFA provided special multi-channel clips of real football matches to be used during this course.
The VAR course programme also included the following theoretical sessions: "Game Management and Monitoring", "Hand Play and APP Analysis", "Ball In and Out of Play" and "Rough Play and Unsportsmanlike Conduct".
In total, over 100 local football match officials participated in the practice, including Premier League and First Division referees, assistant referees and acting VARs.
