Referees will have video help
The system is used to counter-check the decisions made by the referees; the game is stopped for a very short time while the second referee uses a slow-motion review of a contested action to confirm or overrule what the first referee decided in first instance. The teams are allowed to ask for the challenge twice per set and if the result is successful, they keep that same number of attempts for the remainder of the set. If, on the other hand, the referee was right, the team will have only one extra chance to ask for the use of the challenge system. Once the rally comes to a close, the team captain will need to challenge the referee’s decision within five seconds.
“This year’s European Championships are writing history for the video challenge system is being used for the very first time in our flagship competition for national teams” said CEV President André Meyer. “The system was successfully tested last year and this year as well in combination with the Champions League finals. We have seen that players and coaches like it for they know that in some key moments they can appeal to it if they feel that the referee was wrong. This is also a guarantee that the final fate of an extremely important game like a European Championship final won’t be determined by a mistake. Moreover, this decision testifies our intention to make sure that Volleyball evolves with the times and that the latest technology is used in order to support the work of our highly-qualified referees thereby following in the footsteps of other sports that have gone this way as well. The system is easy to understand and the rules are clear, so I am sure that our fans also like it” he added.
The video challenge system will be used only in the following situations:
– Ball in or out
– Ball contact with the antennae
– Faulty net contact by player
– Contact of player’s feet with the end line when executing a service or the attack line when a back row player executes an attack hit.
Any request not complying with the above will be rejected by the first referee and the team will be sanctioned with a time delay sanction.
