Explained: What is VAR-lite in football? The new rating system is being trialled by Australia

The Australian Championship will trial FIFA’s new Football Video Support (FVS), a slimmed-down version of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, during the play-offs in coming weeks, Football Australia said on Wednesday.

“The introduction of Football Video Support reflects the kind of organization we want to be, one that embraces innovation, pushes boundaries and continually looks for new ways to take our competitions to the next level,” said Heather Garriock, CEO of Football Australia.

“We will work closely with FIFA throughout the trial to ensure the system strengthens our competition standards, but also to determine how FVS can be introduced into other competitions in Australia.

What is FVS, popularly known as VAR-lite?

FVS was developed by FIFA, football’s global governing body, to meet the demand of countries and leagues that do not have the financial resources to support VAR, which is now ubiquitous in international and elite club football.

FIFA expects that the limited number of camera angles will result in some decisions being left standing due to unclear evidence.

How is FVS used?

The FVS will be used in the second division of Australian men’s football. Instead of a VAR official on the sidelines watching a video of the match and communicating with the referee, the use of FVS will be triggered by coaches requesting incident review a limited number of times during a match.

The coaches can only request a review in the case of goal disputes, penalty kicks, direct red cards and situations where they believe the referee has warned or sent off the wrong player.

The referee then watches the video footage on a monitor on the field and confirms or revokes the decision.

Has there been a trial period before?

Yes, but at age group tournaments, where coaches were allowed to make two appeals per match, retaining a rating if successful.

Published on November 19, 2025