World Cup 2018: 8 Pieces Of History That Were Made

For the first time in World Cup history, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology was employed, allowing the game referee a second chance to view an incident should the referees watching the monitors suggest it. Obviously, this meant that a lot of the decisions that referees get wrong were overturned, such as, among other things, penalty decisions.

As this was the first World Cup to use VAR, it brought about dozens of other records by default. Eventual winners France were awarded the first penalty thanks to VAR in their opening game against Australia, which led to the first goal to be scored as a result of VAR.

In Brazil's game against Costa Rica, Neymar became the first player in the World Cup to have a penalty decision rescinded after the video replays clearly showed the PSG man diving to the ground.

The list goes on, and though VAR's input seemed to lessen as the tournament went on, we were given one of the biggest decisions of the 2018 World Cup when France were awarded a penalty in the final.

Whether the system worked or not, or caused more controversy than it saved, the use of VAR at the 2018 World Cup was groundbreaking, and it looks as though it is here to stay.