Video Assistant Referees would’ve stopped ‘Hand of God’ goal- Maradona

Argentinian legend, Diego Maradona, has backed the use of Video Assistant Referees (VARs), saying technology brings “transparency and quality” to sports.

The VARs technology provides referees with the ability to use video to make rulings on goals, penalty decisions, direct red cards and cases of mistaken identity.

It has now been used at a number of FIFA tournaments, the most recent of them being the recent FIFA Confederations Cup, and will be used at next year’s World Cup finals in Russia.

Speaking to Fifa.com, Maradona accepted that his infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal would not have stood if the technology were in use back in 1986, when he used his hand to score against England in Argentina’s 2-1 win in a World Cup quarter-final clash.

“Obviously I think about it (the ‘hand of God’ goal) whenever I show my support for the use of technology,” Maradona said.

“I thought about it and, sure, that goal wouldn’t have stood if technology had been around.

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“I’ll tell you something else – at the 1990 World Cup I used my hand to clear the ball off the line [in a group game] against the Soviet Union.

“We were lucky because the referee didn’t see it. You couldn’t use technology back then, but it’s a different story today.”

The 56-year old added: “England won the World Cup in ’66 with a shot that didn’t go over the line.

“There have been lots of incidents where World Cup history would have been different if technology had been used. It’s time to change all that.”

After the Confederations Cup, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said the use of the technology was a “great success”, but conceded work was needed to be done especially on speed of decisions.

 

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