The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is taking major strides toward introducing Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology across the Pacific, as preparations ramp up for the launch of the OFC pro League in January.
Building on successful signal transmission tests between Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium and the OFC Academy in Auckland, the project has now entered an advanced phase, focused on referee training, live match simulations, and system validation to ensure full readiness for the league’s debut.
The Fiji trials, conducted during the OFC Women’s Nations Cup, featured a seven-camera setup transmitting real-time footage to a simulated VAR Operating Room (VOR) in Auckland. The results were impressive: minimal delay across both voice and video feeds, confirming the viability of a centralised VAR model similar to those used in leading global competitions.
This milestone paved the way for the region’s first VAR course, hosted at the OFC Academy. Led by VAR Manager Jamie Cross and Project Manager Mihaly Fabian , the course brought together Oceania’s top referees for FIFA-certified training designed to elevate officiating standards across the confederation.
VAR Instructor Nick Waldron oversaw hands-on sessions during the program’s staged rollout. “We’ve now completed stage three, which involved live communication between referees on the pitch and the VAR room during on-field reviews,” Waldron explained. “It’s an essential step toward integrating VAR into competitive matches.”
Technical innovation has been central to the project’s success. VAR Technology Team member Kelvin Lewis highlighted how OFC’s geography has shaped a tailored approach.
“Unlike other regions, our VAR system operates through managed internet connections to transmit audio and video,” Lewis said. “That gives us the flexibility to run matches across multiple island nations.”
He added that advanced encoding ensures efficiency and precision.
“We’re able to compress and transmit multiple camera and referee feeds simultaneously,” Lewis noted. “It’s all about maintaining accuracy and speed even over vast distances.”
To achieve real-time communication, the system employs a Layer 2 VPN that rapidly converts signals into millions of packets for transmission via fibre optic links.
“Those connections are the backbone of our setup. They keep communication seamless between referees on the field and the VAR room, and that’s what makes the entire system work.”