Refereeing Council vice-president João Ferreira in session with the media on the Video Assistant Referee

The Portuguese Football Federation hosted a questions and answer session with the press this week on the Video Assistant Referee, set to be introduced into Portuguese professional football (Liga NOS).

João Ferreira was on hand to explain the technology: "We don't want the Video Assistant Referee to be involved a lot, but when it does then it must benefit the game as much as possible." The system will be focused on four areas: goals (all goals will be analysed), penalties, direct red cards (red cards for two bookable offences will not be included) and the erroneous identification of a payer.

All stadiums will be linked up to an operations centre hosted in Portugal's City of Football, with the capacity to analyse four matches simultaneously by a team of 22 assistants.

"The idea is for things to carry on as normal, but knowing that everything is being looked at. The referee will ask for assistance (by signalling the shape of a rectangle in the air, in the shape of a television) and the players or coaches cannot interfere in the decision. Players or coaches cannot ask for a situation to be reviewed", explained João Ferreira.

The system will debut in the Portuguese Cup final, ahead of its full implementation for the 2017/18 Liga NOS season.