The FIFA Club World Cup is being used to trial new refereeing technology ©Getty Images

The FIFA Club World Cup is being used to trial technology which allows fans in the stadium to hear match officials explaining decisions taken following Video Assistant Referee (VAR) reviews.

The competition in Morocco, which began on February 1 and concludes tomorrow, is the first event of a 12-month trial period in international contests.

It was implemented by the International Football Association Board which is following up on recommendations made by its Football and Technical Advisory Panels last October.

"We decided to have this trial because we received some requests to make the decision taken by the referee after a VAR intervention more understandable for all the football stakeholders, namely the spectators at the stadium, or in front of the television," said FIFA Referees Committee chairman Pierluigi Collina.

"As language could be one of the issues, we thought this FIFA Club World Cup would be perfect because it's a multi-language competition, with teams and, of course, spectators involved coming from all six of the different continents.

"I have to say that there are other experiences in other sports, namely the NFL in American football, who have been doing this for quite a long time.

"It seems that the referees are pretty comfortable with this.

Pierluigi Collina claims that referees are comfortable with the change but has conceded there may be language barrier difficulties ©Getty Images
Pierluigi Collina claims that referees are comfortable with the change but has conceded there may be language barrier difficulties ©Getty Images

"In football, language could be a problem, particularly when you have to make this announcement in a language which is not your mother tongue.

"This may not be that easy.

"But as the announcement will be quite concise, I'm very confident that the referees will feel comfortable with this."

Discussions are taking place regarding a further trial at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Indonesia in May and June.

Depending on the outcome of this, implementation in July and August's FIFA Women's World Cup is a possibility.

The first referee to explain his decisions to spectators was China's Ma Ning, during the Club World Cup's opening game between Al Ahly and Auckland City.

English Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has praised the move, saying it was "important in terms of transparency".

However, it has not been unanimously well received.

Eduardo Iturralde González has criticised the move, and feels more focus should be paid to improving the consistency of VAR decisions ©Getty Images
Eduardo Iturralde González has criticised the move, and feels more focus should be paid to improving the consistency of VAR decisions ©Getty Images

Former Spanish referee Eduardo Iturralde González, who took charge of La Liga and international matches in his 17-year career, has criticised continued changes.

"Over the last 10 years all we have seen is changes to the rules and the interpretation of them," he told AFP.

"What the spectator wants is more consistency with VAR decisions, that something that is given as a foul in Germany is also given as a foul in Spain.

"They want clarity.

"If you have to explain something that means spectators are confused because the rules change so much.

"I don't think football needs to copy the NFL.

"They are different sports, different cultures."