{"id":16199,"date":"2023-02-22T13:15:49","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T13:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=16199"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:11:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:11:20","slug":"how-the-var-environment-is-designed-to-support-optimal-decision-making-in-the-bundesliga","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/how-the-var-environment-is-designed-to-support-optimal-decision-making-in-the-bundesliga\/","title":{"rendered":"How the VAR Environment Is Designed to Support Optimal Decision Making in the Bundesliga"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 22 Feb 2023 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

How the VAR Environment Is Designed to Support Optimal Decision Making in the Bundesliga<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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Sportec Solutions\u2019 Tom Janicot stresses the importance of communication and the advantages of the league owning its own system.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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Main Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions<\/h6>\n
By John Portch<\/h6>\n
How is the video assistant referee (VAR) environment set up in the German Bundesliga to support optimal decision-making on the pitch?<\/h6>\n

It is a question the Leaders Performance Institute poses to Tom Janicot, the Director of Video Solutions at Sportec Solutions, who has invited us to RTL Deutschland\u2019s HQ in Cologne on a January evening to explore the German Football League\u2019s (DFL) Video Assist hub during a round of midweek Bundesliga matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DFL decided to come here because it\u2019s a broadcasting facility in general,\u201d he says. \u201cFrom a technical perspective, it\u2019s a place where we\u2019ve got maximum redundancy and maximum security for our technical installations and connections to all the stadiums in Germany.\u201d The centre provides both the comfort \u2013 much needed for referees when making high-stakes decisions \u2013 and the technical infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The VAR system for the Bundesliga, known locally as \u2018Video Assist\u2019, was first used across the German top tier during the 2017-18 season. It joined goal line technology, which was introduced during the 2015-16 Bundesliga season, as a staple of the match day experience in Germany. Goal line technology provides an instant, accurate judgement on whether or not a ball has crossed the goal line, resulting in a goal.<\/p>\n

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The DFL Video Assist HQ is operated at a central hub in the city of Cologne. (Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions)<\/p><\/div>\n

Ahead of the 2022-23 season, in March 2022, the German Football Federation (DFB) appointed the Munich-based Sportec Solutions as the Bundesliga\u2019s officiating technology partner for the next five seasons.<\/p>\n

It is a pioneering development, as Sportec Solutions is a joint venture between renowned sports and entertainment technology provider Deltatre and the DFL, who operate Germany\u2019s top two divisions under the auspices of the DFB.<\/p>\n

Keeping the Bundesliga\u2019s Fifa-certified VAR and goal line technology in-house affords the league overall control, as Janicot explains. \u201cWhen it comes to changes in setup or innovative features, there\u2019s a huge advantage to being in control of the road maps and the directions we want to take in the future. This also reduces development and feedback cycles. It is challenging for us but also good for our product that the DFL set a very high bar in terms of standards. It is relatively achievable to get everything to work 98% of the time, but that final 2% \u2013 that\u2019s where it costs a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money sometimes to get to that stage.\u201d Sportec Solutions achieves such accuracy using technology designed by its subsidiary, Vieww, which specialises in camera-based systems.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Janicot had taken the Leaders Performance Institute to inspect the match day setup at the BayArena ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s meeting with VfL Bochum. In the Bundesliga, he explained, both VAR and goal line technology are set up according to two camera plans: 19 for some matches and 21 cameras for others. A prominent fixture such as Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund may have a camera plan of 23. Additionally, there are 14 \u2018intelligent\u2019 cameras within a stadium tracking at 200 frames per second in real-time.<\/p>\n

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A Sportec Solutions van onsite at the BayArena ahead of Bayer Leverkusen’s meeting with VfL Bochum on 25 January. It is one of 12 all-electric vans in the Sportec Solutions fleet. (Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions)<\/p><\/div>\n

Sportec Solutions will have a team onsite, both in the stadium and the TV compound outside, and will work to provide both images and audio to the VARs and operators back in Cologne. For each match, two match officials \u2013 a VAR and an assistant VAR \u2013 will work directly with two operators, who themselves are supported by an onsite backroom team.<\/p>\n

There are eight screens at every terminal. The two largest screens relay footage from the main camera above the halfway line. The others will relay a variety of angles and enable operators to assemble a quad-split for the VAR officials to review an incident from multiple angles.<\/p>\n

While the Bundesliga employs the full system, Vieww\u2019s tech could theoretically be rolled out in more modest circumstances. There are already versions in the Portuguese men\u2019s third division and the Bolivian men\u2019s league. \u201cThe system we have built here in the Bundesliga is extremely modular,\u201d says Janicot. \u201cYou can reduce it to a bare minimum and you can have a functional system \u2013 the processes don\u2019t go away \u2013 you\u2019re still going to check a red card exactly the same way. That\u2019s something that\u2019s very important for us, to document all of that to make sure that we have the same standards no matter the size and capability of the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system in Germany is refined through regular VAR and operator feedback. \u201cWhat we want is better decision-making and then you break it down from there. \u2018OK, this is what you want to get to, how do you build every single building block to make sure that you support VARs in making the best possible decisions?\u2019\u201d adds Janicot, who says referees are involved in review processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a testing phase of about one year of putting a product in front of them, getting them to give us feedback on how they liked it, how it was being used, what they didn\u2019t like especially, and then being able to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a luxury we\u2019ve had in building this product from scratch over the past few years after VAR had been introduced [in German football]. We didn\u2019t create it and then put it live and then figure out we need to change this and that. We went in with a fresh mind having had three or four years\u2019 experience within our team and then using that to build the product as it is now.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now, on a weekly basis, we\u2019re still discovering things where we get feedback from the referees or from operators and think, \u2018hey, maybe we can add this or change that\u2019. That\u2019s a continuously evolving thing and I think that working so closely with the refereeing department \u2013 that\u2019s really the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sportec Solutions deploys its officiating technology across both divisions of the Bundesliga, the German Supercup, and selected matches in the national cup competition, the DFB Pokal. (Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions)<\/p><\/div>\n

This ongoing review process led Sportec Solutions to discard touchscreens for VARs. \u201cIf you put technology in front of someone then they\u2019re going to feel like they need to use it,\u201d says Janicot, who explains that VARs were initially able to zoom in on a shot for themselves without the help of an operator. \u201cWhat we actually found is that it was detrimental to the operation because the operator actually had something else in mind but you had the VAR doing something else. So you had two people to control the system when actually we found it\u2019s better to have just one person who is in charge and the VAR hands-off, simply communicating.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the thing where you can\u2019t solve everything with technology, you need to think about what the strengths are with the different people that are at the table and what their ultimate goal is or what their role is in the operation and then make sure they have all the tools to be able to fulfil that role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the system still looks complicated to the uninitiated and the Leaders Performance Institute was all at sea when called upon to rule on an offside decision in a trial match-based scenario. Yet any risk of information overload is offset by the VAR and operators\u2019 training, experience and ability to communicate.<\/p>\n

\u201cClear communication is the absolute key to reaching fast, precise decisions,\u201d says Janicot. \u201cThe team needs to speak the same language, to trust each other to do their respective jobs, especially when it comes to a complex process like an offside decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sportec Solutions’ VAR and goal line technology is provided by its subsidiary, Vieww. (Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions)<\/p><\/div>\n

The DFB has brought in commercial pilots to work with referees and operators to help them to better understand how to engage in clear, direct communication techniques when issuing requests, commands and responses.<\/p>\n

But what if the technology itself were to fail? \u201cYou need to make sure there are no single points of failure and that\u2019s the whole way along the chain,\u201d says Janicot. \u201cAll the way down to a single cable going to a monitor or making sure that you have a separate monitor going through a separate line, going through a separate converter etc. So making sure that you separate the work flows completely to make sure that there\u2019s no one point where anything can fail. That applies to technology and also to people, right. What is your back-up plan if somebody gets ill the day before a match? Or if a van doesn\u2019t make it to a venue the day before a match?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year ago, we spent quite a few hours going through all the different scenarios. We called it a \u2018pre-mortem\u2019. Thinking about the absolute worst-case scenario. What happened? How can we fail? Then it\u2019s making sure that you step back from that and going through all the different scenarios and you try as a team to cover as many as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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An operator draws the lines during a trial run of the technology that enables VARs to rule on offside decisions. (Image: Deltatre\/Sportec Solutions)<\/p><\/div>\n

What about imminent developments? Where does officiating technology go next? Janicot cites the potential for enhanced player tracking. \u201cDo we at one point want to look\u00a0at tracking more parts of the body than just the centre of mass?\u201d He also refers to the use of balls containing microchips that support the use of VAR, goal line and semi-automated offside technology in Fifa competitions. \u201cThey showed it’s possible that\u00a0it can be done\u00a0and at Sportec Solutions we are of course having the discussion, if this is something that we need?\u00a0What benefits do we get from it? And again, what benefits does it bring to the refereeing world?\u201d<\/p>\n

Offside decisions are another area where the DFL and Sportec Solutions are looking to further refine their process, particularly the length of time it takes to reach a verdict and the steps taken to get there. \u201cWe are looking at each segment of this decision tree and seeing \u2018can we improve this? Can we improve this by work flows between the operators and the VARs or with technology?\u2019 I think that\u2019s something where we can make big steps forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if money were no object? \u201cInforming the fans in the stadium, I think, is a real key part. Finding a way to do that in the best possible way. I think that\u2019s key.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is optimistic for the future of\u00a0officiating technology in football. \u201cTop leagues have always had\u00a0high requirements when it comes to precision and it\u2019s also important to us because it\u2019s an elemental part of the game. Afterall, it has influence on the decision-making process, so for us, along the whole way\u00a0it was very important for us, at the end of this road, that we do get a world-class product where we have the chance to bring in our requirements in terms of quality and reliability but also our wishes and ideas for our future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely feel confident that we are in a very good position right now and in a very good position to develop whatever direction we might want to go in terms of the\u00a0next years for refereeing technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

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