Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn expects the Premier League to embrace video assistant referees (VAR) after the system’s permanent use was approved by football lawmakers.
The technology is set to be used at this year’s World Cup in Russia after it was unanimously approved by the International Football Association Board (Ifab).
“I genuinely feel with the Premier League it’s not a question of if but when,” Glenn told British media.
“It’s the Premier League’s decision whether to introduce VAR. They have in my view chosen correctly not to be early adopters because why wouldn’t you let other people find things out?
“The Premier League is the most lucrative league in the world so the consequence of a bad implementation of VAR would be very serious, but likewise the consequence of not ever running VAR when the stakes are so high is a big deal as well.”
European football‘s ruling body Uefa, on the other hand, has already said the system would not be deployed in next season’s Champions League club competition, saying it needed more time to be tested.
According to British media reports, England’s top flight is also leaning towards delaying the introduction of VAR by another season when the clubs meet to discuss technology at a meeting next month.
So far, VAR’s trial in English domestic cup matches has received mixed reviews with fans complaining they were being left in the dark when decisions were made.
“When the FA Cup has finished, we will do a review and decide whether to have it for next season, though I think we probably will,” Glenn added.