This season’s Championship play-off final will not utilise video assistant referees (VAR) despite an estimated £180million windfall for the winners.
Aston Villa face Derby COunty for the chance to play in the Premier League next season, in what is considered by many to be the richest game in football.
It is believed the decision has been made because VAR has not been in use throughout the league campaign, and it would be a risk to introduce it for just one match of the season.
Goal-line technology will be used during the match at Wembley this afternoon, however.
VAR has been deployed on a trial basis in some Carabao Cup fixtures but it was not in operation during Sunday’s Checkatrade Trophy final at Wembley between Portsmouth and Sunderland.
Confirmation of the EFL’s stance comes after another weekend of controversy related to refereeing errors, most notably when Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta equalised against Cardiff earlier in the season, despite being offside.
Unfortunately for Cardiff, who went on to lose the game and eventually were relegated from the Premier League, assistant referee Eddie Smart’s view was blocked by corner-taker Willian, prompting a furious outburst afterwards from Bluebirds manager Neil Warnock.
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He joined talkSPORT after the game to blast the officials and claim his wife, Sharon, was willing to let him ‘thump’ them given how poorly they performed their jobs.
“I thought we had some major decisions [go against us] yesterday,” Warnock said.
“The linesman yesterday said sorry to me after the game, but it’s too late, what good is an apology?!
“We’re having too many honest mistakes and it’s always the top teams who get the decisions.
“You just feel it’s such an injustice, and I’ve felt like that ever since Christmas.
“When I came in yesterday, my wife said to me: ‘darling, if you had wanted to thump the referee and linesman, I wouldn’t have stopped you’. It was so unjust.”
There was also much discussion in the game about when and where video replays are being used this season following the FA Cup quarter-finals, which saw Swansea on the wrong end of two questionable decisions that led to Manchester City goals. The game was played without VAR despite the Liberty Stadium having the capability to do so.
The Premier League has already announced it will be using the system from next season, while the Football Association has said it will review its decision to only use it in the cup at current Premier League grounds at the end of this year’s tournament.
The EFL has consistently said it is not yet ready to roll out VAR for league competition, as it does not have enough referees with the required training to operate the system and not all of its 72 clubs have enough camera positions to make it work.