A VAR breakthrough for the Pacific
LiveU has installed a remote Video Assistant Refereeing system for the Oceania Football Confederation, marking the first deployment of VAR across the Pacific Islands. The solution was created to bypass the logistical obstacles that have kept the region without video assistance for years.
Two compact transmission kits, each small enough to be checked in as ordinary baggage, feed video to a central receiving server located in Auckland. From there, up to twelve camera angles can be streamed simultaneously, while four of those feeds are returned to the referee for real‑time communication.
The round‑trip delay between the remote venues of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Samoa and the Auckland hub is roughly one second, a latency that referees have found manageable for making on‑field decisions.
From proof of concept to competition
After a flawless series of proof‑of‑concept matches, the VAR setup has moved into competitive fixtures, covering the New Zealand Football FIFA Series and the OFC Women’s World Cup qualifying rounds. The next installation is slated for Tahiti, extending the reach of the technology further into the archipelago.
Kevin Stoltenkamp, Head of Refereeing at the Oceania Football Confederation, stresses that accessibility is at the heart of the project, noting that solving problems together is the only way forward. Kelvin Lewis, Referee Technology Lead, adds that the system’s lightweight design makes it easy to transport and set up on site.
Mihaly Fabian, VAR Project Manager, describes the technology as simple yet essential, while Chris Dredge, LiveU’s Country and Sales Manager for the Pacific, calls the deployment a working blueprint that other sports organisations can emulate worldwide.
The success of the VAR kits demonstrates how portable, airline‑friendly equipment can bring high‑level officiating to regions previously excluded by infrastructure constraints, opening a path for broader adoption across global sport.