THE FIFA Club World Championship held in Japan passed without much notice in this country – but it may have been a milestone for future international football.

The reason is it was the first time that VAR (Video Assistant Referee) has been used in a FIFA competition.

This meant the referee was able to call upon a video recording to check the correctness of a decision or have an incident pointed out that he may have missed.

There has been a lot of discussions about how VAR would work and this would seem to be answered in these games.

Where there were unclear incidents to be decided, the referee went to the side of the pitch where there was a monitor, like a laptop, that he could consult before making up his mind.

This leaves the responsibility for decisions entirely with the referee, as stated in the Laws of the game, which say ‘the decisions of the referee regarding facts, connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final’.

Of course there were some snags and there was criticism from the clubs. In one semi-final a penalty was awarded after the VAR drew the referee’s attention to a foul he had missed.

The amount of time the consultation took (45 seconds) also proved contentious. In the other semi-final a goal was allowed to stand after consultation, despite the match assistant referee raising his flag for offside.

David Elleray, now technical director of IFAB, said it was the first experience the referees had had with the system and he was certain that further training over the next year will speed up the review process.

With FIFA’s new president Gianni Infantino saying he is still keen for it to be used in the next World Cup in Russia, it is certain we will see it trailed in many more matches between now and then.