Norway's top two divisions have voted to end the use of video assistant referees (VAR) in domestic leagues. A total of 19 of 32 teams in in Norsk Toppfotball (NTF), the organisation that represents clubs playing in Norway’s Eliteserien and First Division, passed a motion that sees them request the end of VAR. They want to see 'the Norway Football Federation (NFF) board recommend, and that the Federal Assembly adopts, the discontinuation of video-assisted refereeing (“VAR”) as soon as possible'.
The vote does not discontinue the use of VAR immediately however. The decision will ultimately be made at the Federal Assembly in March. A proposal for VAR to be scrapped for the 2025 Eliteserien season failed to pass however. Instead, the alternative motion to scrap the technology 'as soon as possible' was adopted by clubs.
A statement from Norsk Toppfotball read: "This means that even if NTF is negative about the further use of VAR after today’s meeting, there is a possibility that VAR will be part of the Eliteserien in the future as well.". “We see that the technology has potential, but we see through today’s discussion and subsequent voting that the majority of our clubs believe that the current version of VAR does not work well enough,” Cato Haug, chairman of the Norsk Toppfotball board said.
