Fifa confirms VAR technology will be used at World Cup 2018

The Fifa council has approved use of video assistant referee (VAR) technology for the 2018 World Cup.

The last step towards giving match officials high-tech help in Russia was agreed to on Friday by FIFA's ruling council chaired by President Gianni Infantino.

The decision follows two weeks after Fifa's rule-making panel voted to write VARs into the laws of football.

Fifa Council member Reinhard Grindel wrote on his Twitter account that clear communication will be important to make the system a success.

"We need to live with the times," Infantino said. "We are going to have our first World Cup with VAR. It has been approved and we are extremely happy with that decision.

"It's an essential, important and historic decision, based on the meeting of IFAB two weeks back. It's a decision based on trials, carried out in over a thousand matches that provided us with guarantees and facts that VAR helps referees."

Infantino said no one on the Fifa Council was against the decision, and added: "We didn't take it lightly. We studied it thoroughly for two years.

"I was sceptical at the beginning but without trying things you can't know what they are worth. That's why we carried out trials in those 1,000 matches. There are facts: referees make one important mistake one in every three, with VAR it is every 19. These are facts and figures.

"The success rate of referees today without VAR is 93 per cent, which is already excellent. With VAR they reach 99 per cent. We need to leave one per cent, we cannot provide 100."

Infantino added that time-wastage had been discussed "passionately" but concluded: "It's not possible that in 2018 everyone in their living room knows a few seconds after the play whether a referee has made a mistake and the referee doesn't."

Meanwhile, The United States, Mexico and Canada have formally submitted their joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

Morocco is also hoping to stage the tournament, with a decision due to be announced by world governing body Fifa on June 13.

Carlos Cordeiro, president of US Soccer, wrote on Twitter: "The United Bid of Canada, Mexico and the USA to host the 2026 Fifa World Cup has been submitted! Our message to the world: with 23 world-class stadiums and 150 training sites already built and operating, we are ready to host! #United2026"

In a letter addressed to 'presidents, general secretaries and members of our Fifa family', Cordeiro and bid co-chairmen Steven Reed and Decio De Maria wrote: "We believe that our three nations offer the only bid that can deliver the certainty that's needed."

Infantino said: "We have two bids in play, one is a joint bid involving Canada, United States and Mexico, one is Morocco.

"Today, these two bids were presented and they will be looked at thoroughly by a technical taskforce. We will evaluate the two bids. We will visit the venues and then decide if the two bids live up to the minimum requirements. If they are, the decision will be taken to congress."

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.