Euro 2022 organizers UEFA have defended the implementation of video technology at the tournament following criticism by the Swedish team, and denied suggestions that it is being used any differently compared to men’s tournaments.
Sweden have seen five goals ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR) so far in the tournament and, ahead of their semifinal against England on Tuesday night, captain Kosovare Asllani claimed: “Using 50% fewer cameras in our tournament than the men’s game, that is a catastrophe really.
“Decisions can’t be made with the same precision. It’s not just for us, for other teams too. There are situations where I think you should have more cameras, that can be really decisive.”
Head coach Peter Gerhardsson echoed Asllani’s comments. Referring to a Stina Blackstenius goal against Belgium in the quarterfinal, which Swedish referees back home deemed to have been wrongly chalked off for offside due to incorrectly drawn calibrated lines, Gerhardsson said:
“We’ve heard they don’t have the same cameras [as in men’s football], for me it’s not acceptable at the Euros … There shouldn’t be a difference whether it’s women’s or men’s football.”
UEFA, however, have denied any suggestion that VAR is being implemented any differently.
A spokesperson told DW: “VAR camera support at UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 is higher than for the men’s UEFA Champions League and men’s UEFA EURO due to the availability of additional offside and EPTS [electronic performance and tracking systems] cameras.
“Additional offside cameras were not used in the UEFA Champions League last season, while EPTS cameras were not used at the last men’s UEFA EURO.”
Sweden reportedly wrote to UEFA to officially complain about a Rebecka Blomqvists goal against Switzerland which was disallowed for offside in the group stage, during which UEFA say 16 cameras were in use, with this figure rising throughout the tournament.
However, it remains difficult to ascertain how many cameras are for dedicated VAR use, with some also used for player statistics and tracking.
“When it comes to the overall TV production, we have raised the bar considerably for this UEFA Women’s Euros in comparison to previous editions. It is now at the level of a men’s UEFA Champions League match,” the spokesperson added.
“A total of 16 cameras have been used for the TV production of group stage matches at this tournament. This number has risen throughout the knockout stages and the final will be produced using 22 cameras.”
Edited by Kalika Mehta.
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