England v Germany: VAR to be used for the first time in official UK game

Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology will be used for the first time in an official game in the UK during England's friendly against Germany at Wembley on Friday.

A two-year trial of the system was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2016.

It has since been tested across the world, including in the Bundesliga, Serie A and Major League Soccer.

A successful trial took place at a Wembley Cup charity match last month.

England's first experience with the new system came in their friendly against France in June, when Raphael Varane was sent off for bringing down Dele Alli for a penalty.

The technology can only review incidents relating to goals, red cards, mistaken identities and penalties.

It is only to be used "to correct clear errors and for missed serious incidents" in those "match-changing" situations, the IFAB has said.

The trial in Germany's Bundesliga has generated much debate, with fans suggesting it slows the game down too much.

There was further controversy earlier this week when the German Football Association (DFB) replaced Hellmut Krug as the head of the VAR centre in Cologne, after a newspaper accused him of being biased towards Schalke, the team he supports.

The DFB insisted the decision was taken before the story appeared in Bild and Krug remains involved in the project.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said earlier this year that the system has been a "great success", but conceded work is needed on "the details" such as the speed of decisions.

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