Bangladesh’s national football team will experience VAR technology for the first time when they face San Marino on 5 June, in a fixture that carries historical significance on multiple fronts.
The match will mark the first occasion Bangladesh have faced a European side on European soil, making it a landmark moment for the country’s football programme. VAR, which is widely used across modern football to assist referees in making accurate decisions, has never featured in a Bangladesh men’s international fixture until now.
San Marino sit at the very bottom of the FIFA world rankings, but despite being one of the smallest nations on earth at just 61 square kilometres, the country boasts a well-developed football infrastructure, which includes the use of VAR technology at their home ground.
Interestingly, the Bangladesh women’s team reached this milestone roughly three months earlier. VAR was in use during the Women’s Asia Cup held in Australia, and Bangladesh benefited notably from the technology, with several opposition goals ruled out following video reviews.
For Jamal Bhuyan and the men’s side, however, the encounter represents a fresh chapter, combining a first venture onto European soil against a European opponent with a first brush with the game’s most debated technological tool.
