Video assistant referees will be used during this season’s UEFA Champions League knockout phase, UEFA announced Monday. The UEFA Executive Committee made the decision following successful testing of the technology and training of referees over the last few months.
The 16-team knockout phase will begin Feb. 12, 2019. UEFA also announced that VAR will be used for this season’s Europa League final in Baku, the Nations League Finals in Portugal, and the European Under-21 Championship in Italy. Earlier comments from the European soccer governing body suggested UEFA would wait until the 2019-20 season to adopt VAR.