The president of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) launched an impassioned defence of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) on Wednesday after clubs voted to scrap it last week.

Clubs in Norway’s top two divisions have voted to discontinue the use of video assistant referees (VAR) in their domestic leagues. The 32 teams in Norsk Toppfotball (NTF), the organisation that represents clubs in Norway’s Eliteserien and First Division,

The Norwegian Football Federation says it is in favour of keeping the video assistant referee despite strong opposition from clubs and fans.

Norway is set to become the first country to abandon VAR after 19 of its 32 clubs voted Wednesday to scrap video refereeing in the country's top division.

A total of 19 out of 32 clubs in Norway have voted to do away with Video Assistant Referees (VAR) after several games have been marred with fan violence. VAR was introduced into the Norway top-flight league in 2023.

Leaders of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday recommended to continue with the VAR review system, a few days after clubs voted for the technology to be scrapped. An NFF statement said that its board recommends retaining and further developing the Video Assistant Referee technology in Norwegian football in a a cost-effective manner.