
FIFA has finally arrived at its destination: in corner kicks it will be possible to know in real time who touched the ball last, correcting the absurdity of assisting a goal influenced by a wrong decision by the referee and the linesman, that is, giving the corner to the wrong team. It was truly surreal that, with all the technology available today, this area remained untouched. The VAR protocol can intervene to cancel a goal (except for penalties, direct red cards and identity changes – these are the four cases currently reviewable), but not to verify whether the action arose from a corner kick given incorrectly.
In the event of a potentially irregular goal, the VAR checks other possible situations of "clear and obvious error" in the action: if there were fouls committed by the attacking team during the goal action (the so-called APP, acronym for Attacking Possession Phase), if there were players in an active offside position, if the ball went out of bounds before the goal and if there was handball (with the criterion of immediacy, the interpretation of which has led to the recent controversy over Davis' goal in Udinese-Lazio).
How does the rule change?
As can be seen, the possibility of cancelling a goal resulting from a corner kick incorrectly awarded by the refereeing body is missing. More precisely, it was missing, because – the Times reveals – at the next annual meeting of the IFAB (the sole depository body of the rules of the game of football), to be held in London next Tuesday, the green light is expected to be given to the use of technology that would allow VAR to speak indisputably also for corner kicks.
It will be a microchip placed inside the ball that will automatically signal which player last touched the ball, just as it is already known in real time whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not. The new corner kick rule, if approved, will come into effect at next summer's World Cup.