Video Assistant Referee Training Portal launched by OZ Sports

Liam Watson
OZ Sports have created an Online Training Portal designed to revolutionise the adoption of VAR, despite being in the Covid-19 crisis.

The Portal will serve as a valuable resource for referees and addresses the complexities and costs of existing VAR approaches, as leagues continue to become accustomed with it. OZ Sports are aiming to deliver high-quality referee training and match readiness of existing referees – even though we aren’t in normal circumstances.

The OZ VAR solution has recently been one of the first in the world to be inspected under FIFA’s Quality Programme for VAR Technology. This aims to verify the quality of VAR technologies in areas such as synchronicity, latency and video quality to ensure the highest standards are met.

“By transforming the key challenge of referee training, we are able to simplify the adoption of VAR by leagues around the world,” CEO of OZ Sports, Gudjon Gudjonsson said.

“With our VAR Online Training Portal, referees can train anytime, even from their homes, in a rich interactive environment, making the process simple, efficient and effective, even under the current lockdown.”

The incorporation of OZ’s VAR Online Training Portal does bring new opportunities for off-field practical training to VARs via remote digital training. It reduces the substantial one-off costs and difficulties of certifying VAR officials at specific training areas through resourcing, staffing and time constraints.

The VAR Online Training Portal sits alongside the OZ VAR solution offering which revolutionises the economics of VAR implementation, as VAR has mainly just been used within the top leagues. The OZ Sports VAR solution is a pay-as-you-go service, removing the barriers to adoption at all levels of football by harnessing technology and changing the economics of implementation by reducing costs and requirement of capital outlay.

“The football world has taken crucial steps to modernise its league infrastructures,” Gudjonsson said.

“VAR started as something only for the big leagues, but with the VAR module of the OZ Connected Stadium, a high-quality solution is now a reality for all leagues.

“By harnessing the latest technology including AI and modern network infrastructures, we can remove the need for complex and overly expensive solutions.

“The OZ Connected Stadium is a fundamental change to the way the sector approaches sports infrastructure.”

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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