LONDON — Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou joked Wednesday that he would move to Sweden because of its refusal to adopt VAR technology.
Most soccer leagues around the world use video assistant referees to determine offsides and other key calls. But Sweden is an outlier as the only one of Europe’s top-30 ranked leagues in holding out.
“Yeah, I’m moving there,” Postecoglou said. “I don’t have a job, I’m just moving there.”
VAR calls continue to be a contentious issue and despite Postecoglou’s concerns, his Tottenham team benefited from a major error earlier this season when Liverpool erroneously had a goal ruled out in a 2-1 loss to the Londoners.
The referees’ governing body in England quickly introduced changes to VAR after reviewing the errors that led to Luis Diaz having a goal disallowed, despite replays clearly showing he was onside.
But Postecoglou believes more reform is needed.
“I’d change a hell of a lot on it, but again I’ve said before that I think it’s changed the game materially, which I don’t think was the intention when it was brought in,” he said ahead of Spurs’ game against Chelsea in the Premier League on Thursday.
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