FIFA's stand-by VAR rule leaves ITV's McCoist and Champion in stitches during France vs Morocco

FIFA’s decision to deploy a stand-by VAR official for World Cup quarter-finals drew on-air ridicule from ITV commentators Jon Champion and Ally McCoist during France’s 2-0 victory over Morocco at Boston Stadium.

The new arrangement — introduced in response to fierce scrutiny of refereeing standards at the tournament — places both a primary and a reserve VAR official at each stadium for the remaining fixtures, replacing the previous system of processing all rulings remotely at the International Broadcast Centre in Dallas.

McCoist could barely contain his amusement at the prospect of the stand-by role. “It’s not one to tell the grandkids is it,” he said. “‘It was brilliant lads, I was a stand-by VAR at the World Cup.’ ‘That must have been thrilling, grandpa.’ Come on.” He followed up with a second imagined exchange: “‘What did you do at that World Cup, grandpa?’ ‘Nothing’.”

Champion, for his part, suggested that fewer officials would probably produce better decisions — a note of scepticism that appeared at least partly vindicated when a lengthy VAR delay followed the award of a penalty for a foul on Kylian Mbappé earlier in the half.

Uruguay’s Leodan Gonzalez and Nicaragua’s Tatiana Guzman were the two officials stationed on-site at Boston Stadium under the new arrangement.

The stand-by VAR rule was not the only officiating story surrounding the match. FIFA’s appointment of an all-Argentine team — referee Facundo Tello and assistants Juan Pablo Belatti and Gabriel Chade — dominated pre-match discussion after Egypt’s manager accused FIFA of manipulating his side’s 3-2 group-stage loss to Argentina, claiming the organisation wanted Lionel Messi to remain in the tournament.

“They want Messi to stay in the tournament,” the Egypt manager said. “In football, many things happen off the pitch because of interests. What happened was unfair. Egypt deserved to qualify. We were the better team.”

FIFA’s head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina rejected the allegations directly. “Nobody can question the integrity of the FIFA World Cup match officials,” Collina said. “When this happens, it may provoke reactions that lead to threats against them and their families. This is not right. Equally, nobody can claim that FIFA refereeing can be influenced by anyone, not even by the FIFA president.”