A new form of VAR was introduced to Serie C this week as legendary referee Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of FIFA's Referees Commission, observed it being used in a clash between Livorno and Ternana.
Ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, Collina picked the third division of Italian football, Serie C, to pilot a new system called Football Video Support (FVS).
First of all, FVS does not use a traditional VAR room. Instead, a portable, sideline-operated system will allow coaches to challenge and potentially influence decisions during the game.
Ahead of kick-off, each team’s coaching team will receive two cards – a purple card for the home team, and a gold card for the away team. These cards allow the coach to challenge the referee to review a replay.
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In short, if a team believes the referee has made a mistake, then the coach will use his card [two allowed per game] and give it to the fourth official. The referee will then review the incident.
If the original decision stands, the team’s challenge is used up, but if the challenge is successful, then the team will get its card back and can use it later in the match. But as noted above, only two cards are allowed for the entire match.
Basically, the Football Video Support system gives coaches of both teams the ability to call a review of any incident deemed questionable or incorrect.
This week, in the Serie C clash between Livorno and Ternana, coach Fabio Liverani requested a review via Football Video Support as he requested a red card for Livorno player Jesus Mawete.
The referee was called to the monitor, but after analysing the play, he decided against Liverani's request and did not send off Mawete, who instead received a yellow card.
As mentioned above, Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of the FIFA Referees Commission, was present at the game.
Lega Pro president Matteo Marani thanked the former referee for his work. "Serie C's mission is to experiment, and this test is very important because it is also being monitored by FIFA," he told Sky.
"I thank the football body and Collina for choosing our league and our category to pilot the FVS, and I also want to thank Orsato and all the referees who have worked so hard with us over the last month, because we all had to be prepared."
He added: "This is a historic evening for football, and I reiterate one thing: let's call it FVS, not anything else."
Jack Kenmare