Latest news with #Valerenga
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hearts transfers and what new signings will offer: Bum-baring, rampaging and goalscoring
Signings will continue through the summer window ahead of SPFL season 2025/26 Sign up to our Hearts newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... New recruits reporting to Riccarton later this month can generally be described as 'unknown quantities'. Elton Kabangu apart, most Hearts fans will know little about their club's latest signings. Four deals are complete and there will be several more to come as new head coach Derek McInnes reshapes an underperforming first-team squad. Internet searches provide a brief impression of players and there has been plenty reason for Hearts supporters to scour Youtube lately. The Edinburgh News has compiled its own dossier on the men who have committed their futures to the west side of Edinburgh. We also assessed another two of the players Hearts officials are aiming to lure to Scotland this summer: Christian Borchgrevink Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The 26-year-old Valerenga captain left his former club in good spirits after baring his backside not once but three times to supporters at the end of his final appearance. His character is certain to bring colour to the Riccarton dressing room, but also leadership. A lifelong Valerenga fan, he joined the club aged nine and helped them return to Norway's Eliteserien in 2024 by scoring the decisive goal to confirm promotion. He is an attack-minded full-back, quick and comfortable on the ball, with crossing among his best attributes. He is also comfortable stepping into midfield during attacks. Borchgrevink spent more than four months of last season sidelined with a knee injury but returned in time to play before Valerenga's season ended. He may take time to reach peak fitness once he arrives at Hearts, but nothing a good pre-season shouldn't remedy. He is firmly expected to make the right-back position his own at Tynecastle next season after signing a three-year contract. Alexandros Kyziridis A Greek winger plucked from the relative obscurity of Slovakia's top flight, the Niké Liga, Kyziridis offers pace, goals and assists. The 24-year-old recorded an impressive 16 goals and eight assists from 30 appearances for Slovakian side Zemplín Michalovce last season. He is now destined for Hearts after agreeing a three-year deal. He is two-footed but tends to favour his right slightly more and is fond of a rampage in behind opposing defences. He lines up on the left flank as an inverted winger who tends to drift inside frequently. He also positions himself centrally when crosses arrive from the opposite side and displays a striker's instinct in and around the penalty area. The challenge for Kyziridis will be the unforgiving nature of Scottish football and the little time he will get in possession. If he can cope with the physicality, he definitely has the talent to succeed. Elton Kabangu Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The one familiar face to sign so far. Kabangu's loan from Union Saint-Gilloise was converted into a permanent transfer for a fee in the region of £250,000. He also signed for three years. He scored eight goals in the first 11 games of his loan spell but faded thereafter. A left-footed striker with good movement and the ability to score various kinds of goals, the Belgian tends to do his best work inside the penalty box. Many fans are keen to see him line up in a 4-4-2 system and McInnes has hinted that he will use that formation, certainly at Tynecastle, next term. Kabangu is hungry to prove himself and admitted publicly that he wants to do better than he did towards the end of last season. Oisin McEntee The giant New York-born Irishman has been brought in to add presence to Hearts' midfield, but that is not all he will offer. Signed from Walsall in England's League Two, he is another who carries mental strength and character. Played in defence a number of times for Walsall but is being signed as a central midfielder under McInnes. McEntee stands 6ft 3ins tall and is understandably good in the air. He is also technically very capable with the ball at his feet and his range of passing is varied. He can break wide to deliver crosses and carries an obvious threat from set-pieces. He is more than simply a midfield anchorman and will generally look to pass forward to initiate attacks. Signed a three-year contract and could play a big role next season. Islam Chesnokov Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The long-running saga of the Kazakhstan internationalist's move to Edinburgh is still ongoing. Hearts want a deal with his club, Tobol Kostanay, to sign him this summer and are hoping for a conclusion soon. If successful, they will be recruiting another inverted winger who also likes a rampage past defenders, but this time a right-sided one. Chesnokov, 25, is left-footed but operates off the right flank. His playing style carries some similarities to Kyziridis in that he often roams inside onto his stronger foot. He has four goals and two assists from 16 appearances in the Kazakhstan Premier League and has also played 13 times for his national team, scoring twice. The standard of Kazakhstan football allows creative players like Chesnokov time and space which he won't get in Scotland. However, if he can find pockets of space and tee up his left foot, he is capable of unleashing some powerful strikes from distance. Daniel Arzani Hearts have put a contract offer to the Australian internationalist, who featured as a substitute for his country against Japan in Thursday's World Cup qualifier. He is set to leave Melbourne Victory for free with his contract expiring. Age 26, he is young enough to offer sell-on potential but Hearts face competition for his signature from Europe and Asia. Arzani is different to Kyziridis and Chesnokov in that he is more of a touchline winger - the type who like white paint on their boots from stretching the play so much. Dribbling and pace are among his best skills and he delivers a mean cross whether playing on the left or right side. He is right-footed so tends to favour that position. Can be guilty of overplaying and questionable decision-making with the ball, sometimes trying to beat one man too many. However, he possesses natural talent which could see him make more of an impact if he returns to Scotland after a previous injury-interrupted loan at Celtic. READ MORE: Penrice and Shankland Hearts futures as English clubs circle
Scottish Sun
14-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Hearts eye more early transfer business as Greek winger on radar after stellar goalscoring season
The wheels could already be in motion WATCHED Hearts eye more early transfer business as Greek winger on radar after stellar goalscoring season Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SUMMER business is well and truly underway at Tynecastle, and it looks like something new could be in the pipelines. With the Premiership yet to come to a close, Hearts have already announced the departure of two solid servants in the form of Jorge Grant and ex-Rangers star Barrie McKay. 3 Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis could end up at Hearts Credit: Alamy 3 He is pictured in action for Debrecen in 2022 Credit: Alamy 3 They've already secured Christian Borchgrevink of Valerenga Credit: Getty They also got their first signing done as early as last month when Valerenga's Christian Borchgrevink was secured by the now-departed manager Neil Critchley. And in that area it's understood Kilmarnock's Derek McInnes could come in as replacement in the dugout before the week is through. But the latest possible transfer business is for another player despite the lack of a manager at the moment. With Tony Bloom's Jamestown Analytics already in the door it's likely the statistics and the supercomputer identifying targets. The Edinburgh side are reportedly looking towards the Slovakian league for Greek winger Alexandros Kyziridis. He'd be able to add wide options and play across the front line, and has notched 13 goals and three assists this season which makes him Nike Liga's second-top scorer. But his contract with Michalovce is up at the end of the season meaning he could get scooped up on a free. The 24-year-old has played most of his senior football in Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary, but the left-winger came through the youth ranks in Greece. He started off at one of the country's top clubs in PAOK, who put the Gorgie side to the sword in the Conference League two years ago. In 2021-22 while playing with Slovak team FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce he landed himself a place in the under-21s Team of the Season. Derek McInnes opens up on Rangers years, Kilmarnock ambitions and Scotland dream in part 2 of exclusive interview In a similar system to the Scottish Premiership, Michalovce narrowly missed out on making the top half of the league split. But with the bottom placed team cut well adrift it looks unlikely Kyziridis will suffer a relegation this season, much like the club he's linked with. The Hearts Standard understands that he has already travelled to the capital for talks of a potential move. With the Gorgie side due to play against Killie this weekend, who knows which dugout McInnes might be in. But if and when he's in the door he may get the chance to have his say on the Greek attacker or any other potential players that the numbers help locate. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
New York Times
01-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Inside Scandinavia's VAR revolt – featuring walkouts, silences and fishcakes
'We won't give up,' says Kristian, a bearded Valerenga fan standing defiantly outside the Intility Arena. 'We want to be the first country to remove this disease. Then other countries will realise VAR can be defeated.' It is the first weekend of Norway's football season and, inside the stadium of Oslo's biggest club, the stand where Valerenga's most boisterous supporters congregate is completely empty as the game kicks off. Advertisement Thousands remain outside, refusing to enter until the 15-minute mark as part of a series of co-ordinated protests involving fans from every club in Norway's top flight, the Eliteserien, as well as others from the division below. It is a different scene in the away end, where the supporters of Viking are using another tactic to signal their hostility towards the video assistant referee system (VAR), which uses an official watching television replays away from the stadium to review significant on-field decisions. Viking fans take their seats but remain completely silent for the first 15 minutes. All that can be heard are the shouts of the players, an occasional blow of the referee's whistle or the thud of boot against ball. 'Nei Til VAR!' reads the banner in Valerenga's deserted Ostblokka stand. Translation: 'No To VAR!'. The previous day, with the snowy peaks of Drammen visible in the distance, Stromsgodset's match against Rosenborg got the new season underway with a silent protest of their own. Both sets of fans took part. No songs, no cheering, just virtual silence until the signal arrived after 15 minutes. Rosenborg's fans gathered behind a banner — 'NFF Mafia' — that made it clear what they thought about the Norwegian Football Federation. Lampposts outside the stadium were decorated with stickers showing the 'Hater VAR' ('hate VAR') message. A banner held up by Stromsgodset fans spelt it out another way: 'FCK VAR'. 'Our supporters who are against VAR have the right to express their feelings,' Alfred Johansson, Rosenborg's head coach, tells The Athletic. 'It's much better this way — a quiet 15 minutes — than other forms of action. Because we also know what it's like when a game has to be stopped, or even cancelled, because of protests.' In July last year, Rosenborg's game against Lillestrom was abandoned when fans threw smoke bombs, tennis balls and — no kidding — fishcakes on the pitch. Other games in Norway's 16-team Eliteserien have been targeted in similar ways. This season, the fan groups have decided they will not actively disrupt games but the anger is real in a country where members run the football clubs and many feel VARs were brought in without a proper consultation process. Advertisement In January, the 32 clubs in Norway's top two divisions voted 19-13 in favour of a motion for 'the discontinuation of VAR as soon as possible'. Critics accuse the review system of being unreliable and prone to human error, causing unnecessary delays, disrupting the flow of matches and, perhaps worst of all, often ruining the spontaneous joy that football's most beautiful moment — a goal — is supposed to bring. What seemed like a landmark victory, however, has not led to any changes. Instead, the NFF held a national assembly on March 1 for all 450 of its member clubs, all the way down to grassroots level, and they voted 321 to 129 against abolishing the technology. Anger has peaked since. 'We were hopeful we could get rid of VAR,' says Sebastian Hytten, leader of Valerenga's Klanen fan group. 'But it wasn't a surprise the NFF worked so hard to keep it because, for them, it was a matter of honour. If they had lost the battle, they would have lost honour. They would have faced accusations that the supporters had taken over.' The backlash against the VAR system can be felt in many ways in this part of Scandinavia. One reminder for Lise Klaveness, president of the NFF, came outside her house in Nordstrand, a suburb south of Oslo. 'Maybe I had parked my car a little too far out,' she says. 'Someone put a note on my windscreen to joke about how my car was parked and 'it needs to go to VAR' to decide what to do about it. Really funny.' Klaveness, a lawyer and a former Norway international footballer, can laugh as she admits she has no idea who it was. But it hasn't always been so amusing since it became clear her attitude to VARs had changed. 'I didn't like VAR when it came in. I was a pundit in Russia at the 2018 World Cup and it was the first time VAR was used in an international championship. It was disturbing. We didn't understand it, why we had to wait such a long time for decisions. It felt like disruption. People said it worked well but that was not the feeling the footballers and pundits had.' Australia's A-League became the first professional league to introduce VARs in 2017, followed by MLS in the United States later that year. Since then, almost every major league and competition in world football has adopted the technology. Yet, rather than removing controversy, it has led to anger, disillusionment and fierce criticism. Advertisement What nobody would have imagined, however, was that the most militant and organised mobilisation of VAR's opponents would involve a nation not usually associated with dissent or dissatisfaction (the World Population Review ranked Norway as the seventh-happiest country in the world). The story, for example, about the Stromsgodset player who had to take a VAR-awarded penalty while his club's supporters, directly behind the goal, were singing, 'F*** VAR'. There was the walkout by Stabaek fans against Viking, directly after kick-off, and the tragicomedy that they missed a goal that was, after a VAR review, ruled out for handball. 'Vi var her,' read the banner they left behind in a deserted stand ('We were here'). Valerenga fans disrupted one match by throwing a selection of pastries on the pitch to signify the alleged culture of coffee and croissants in NFF's planning meetings. Or how about Lillestrom's trip to Rosenborg in 2023 when they were awarded a VAR-assisted, stoppage-time penalty to win 2-1 in the most dramatic circumstances? 'Our fans had travelled an hour's flight or an eight-hour drive to go to that game,' says Hogner Trym, a Lillestrom fan and podcaster who campaigns against the VAR system through his Harde Mottak group ('Hard Reception'). 'Usually, we would go crazy, especially if you know the history between the two clubs. Here, we didn't even celebrate. The attitude was, 'This isn't football'. The winning goal went in and we sat down.' Lillestrom, relegated last season to Norway's second tier, have taken a prominent role in the anti-VAR movement as the only club to vote against its introduction for the start of the 2023 season. The club have a sizeable number of what Klaveness calls 'hardliners' and were also involved in the infamous fishcake game. 'That was the Rosenborg fans,' Trym clarifies. 'Their idea was to throw fishcakes on the pitch so a flock of seagulls would come down and create a big scene. It didn't go quite to plan but, in the end, the referee abandoned the match anyway.' A match between Rosenborg and Lillestrom was abandoned in Norway after tennis balls, smoke bombs, and fishcakes were thrown onto the pitch 😳Both sets of fans are currently protesting against the use of VAR in the Norwegian top flight. Critics of the NFF accuse the federation of being rocked by the 19-13 vote and engineering a way around it by involving teams further down the pyramid who would never play in a match using VARs. Those clubs, it is widely accepted, were encouraged to vote in line with the NFF's preference to keep the technology. Advertisement 'A lot of people are angry and disappointed,' says Ole Kristian Sandvik, spokesman for the Norwegian Supporter Alliance. 'People are disappointed with the decision itself. But we are angry about the process, too. Norwegian people don't usually protest too often but this has sparked something to say, 'Hey, this isn't right, it isn't working and — excuse my French — we f*****g hate VAR'.' The nationwide protests, according to their organisers, were to 'raise awareness that member democracy is under attack by anti-democratic forces who want to take control of Norwegian football'. Klaveness has built her reputation as a principled and progressive leader who was willing to ask difficult questions of FIFA and UEFA, regardless of the consequences for herself, if it meant speaking up for what she believed was right, particularly when it came to the Qatar World Cup and the bidding process for the 2030 and 2034 tournaments. Now, though, some of Norway's leading anti-VAR groups and campaigners are questioning whether UEFA influenced the decision to continue with the technology. The accusation is that European football's governing body might have leaned on Klaveness at a time she is being added to UEFA's executive committee. Klaveness, whose playing career included 73 appearances for her country, is stung by the suggestion. 'Rumours will get roots,' she tells The Athletic. 'But it has no roots in truth. We went to UEFA to ask them what arguments they had for or against VAR and they were clear they didn't want to affect us. That conspiracy is not true and it's very important this is not set as poison.' Her argument is that it has been 'a very fair, open and transparent process' and, though she doesn't put it exactly in these terms, her supporters say the issue is more that the protestors have (a) lost the argument, (b) need someone to blame, and (c) have a different idea about what democracy means. A working group, led by former Oslo mayor and ex-Valerenga board member Raymond Johansen, carried out a four-month review of VAR's good and bad points. Many coaches and players confided they wanted to keep the technology but had not dared say it publicly. Many fans articulated the same. And the referees made it clear, in Klaveness' words, that 'it was the point of no return' as far as they were concerned. Advertisement 'We talked to so many people,' she says. 'I've heard this accusation that 'we simply didn't want to lose the argument'. It's not even close to the truth. It's about democracy and, in the end, it was clear the silent majority wanted to keep VAR.' That is not going to wash with some of the protestors, who are planning another wave of coordinated action next weekend and unveiled protest banners when Norway's national team played a World Cup 2026 qualifier in Moldova last week. Yet Klaveness, unlike many football administrators, is a passionate advocate for freedom of speech. She also believes in the right to protest and makes the point that VAR-haters 'are still allowed to think it's bulls**t… we cannot turn against our supporters, we cannot hate the fact they are yelling. They have a very relevant argument'. She is also determined to meet the relevant people head-on. Two days before the national assembly, Klaveness was at Carls, a pub in Oslo, to meet 200 anti-VAR campaigners from across the country. It was a beery audience and some frank views were exchanged. Did she win over everyone? No, but she maintains it was important to 'show respect and demand respect back'. It was, she says, 'Very intense.' Three hours south of Oslo, heading across the border into Sweden, there is a vision of what might have been. GAIS, one of three Gothenburg clubs in the Swedish top division, are playing AIK in a Monday night fixture at the Gamla Ullevi. It is the first week of the Allsvenskan season and VARs are not even an afterthought. Sweden's top flight is the only men's league among Europe's top 30 that refuses to use the technology. When a goal is scored, such as AIK's 92nd-minute winner, it remains a goal. Nobody's joy is short-lived. Players — and fans — can celebrate without worrying they will be made to look silly. Advertisement 'It's so beautiful (without VAR),' says Mikkjal Thomassen, the AIK head coach and former Faroe Islands international, reflecting on his team's late and dramatic 1-0 victory. 'It's so unspoilt. I'm just a guest in Sweden, but I think it's a magical decision by Swedish football, even though it's a little contradictory to where the central organisations are heading in football. Our supporters are really clear that they don't want VAR and we, as a club, stand 100 per cent behind that.' In England, when Wolverhampton Wanderers proposed a motion to abolish the VAR system, there was not a single vote of support from the other Premier League teams, even those who had been more vociferous. Yet the clubs in Sweden, like those in Norway, are run by members, which emboldens fans to take a stand because they have the power to effect change. 'It (VAR) has become a symbol of everything we don't like about modern football,' says Isak Eden, president of the Swedish Football Supporters' Union. 'My team, Elfsborg, played in Europe last season (with mandatory VAR) and there's always that feeling when your team scores that you have to hesitate, wait a minute, look three times, or that you might have to celebrate twice. It was completely weird.' In the first of Elfsborg's Europa League qualifiers, against Cypriot side Pafos, they were awarded a penalty when the VAR sent the referee to the pitchside monitor. 'We needed to win this game to get through,' says Eden. 'Yet the whole stadium was chanting, 'We hate VAR'. So I can sympathise with the Norwegian supporters. It was a lively debate here, too, but it's completely dead now and nothing will change in Sweden for the foreseeable future.' Compare and contrast with the scenes in Norway where anti-VAR slogans are not just displayed on T-shirts and hoodies but also on other items, such as air fresheners and bottle openers. Advertisement 'It can be strange sometimes,' Ole Selnaes, a Rosenborg player with 32 Norway caps, tells The Athletic. 'We are getting used to it, though. We know it's a hot topic and, if the fans want to stay silent for the first 15 minutes, we have to focus and be professional.' Do the players want VAR abolished? 'Opinion is very mixed,' says Selnaes. 'Some do, but some don't. I can see both sides. Yes, it hasn't worked perfectly, but we have to remember these are still early days. To me, it would be strange for us to remove VAR if almost everyone else in Europe has it.' 'Forsvar Medlemsdemokratiet' ('Defend Member Democracy') was the message displayed on banners at several grounds over the weekend. Yet there is also a backlash against the backlash and, in the land of Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard, the pro-VAR campaigners are becoming increasingly voluble, too. In November, Fredrikstad chairman Jostein Lunde put a statement on the club's website asking for feedback and explaining that 'the board was in favour of VAR. 'I hate f******g VAR' has echoed throughout the stadium, but what does the entire membership really think?' Fredrikstad's members voted 70-65 in favour of the VAR system and Lunde sounds quite proud when he says they were one of only five top-division clubs, with Kristiansund, Sarpsborg 08, KFUM and Bodo/Glimt, to take that stand. 'I have been quite clear that VAR must continue,' says Lunde. 'I have tried to be a strong pro-VAR voice because the people who want change tend to speak the loudest, whereas the people who don't want change are often silent. I got a lot of criticism from different supporters. But the silent majority were too silent for too long.' Amid all this, the NFF is entitled to point out that Eliteserien has moved up from 23rd in 2019 to 12th in UEFA's rolling five-year coefficient rankings. Attendances are up. And, VAR or no VAR, the fans put on some show, not least because Norway's football authorities allow pyrotechnics, which are banned in England and other countries. Fan culture is alive and well here — flags, flares, megaphones, tifos and fashion that Norway's love of English football has clearly influenced. Advertisement But these are unusual times. When the supporters of Bodo/Glimt threw fishcakes on the pitch to disrupt a game against Haugesund, the club banned nine fans for 30 games. 'To continue with such childish streaks is to kill football,' Frode Thomassen, the general manager, told TV2. 'It's not about football, not about VAR. I find it incredibly sad and boring.' Soon afterwards, Bodo/Glimt had an away game against Stromsgodset, whose fans held up two large banners: 'Freedom for Ultras' and 'Have a fishcake, Frode'. The challenge for Klaveness is to navigate a way through all this infighting when, by her own admission, it is almost impossible to align everyone's views. It has not been, she says, a 'happy case'. Ultimately, though, she says it has been 'the most transparent process in the world' and that referees are grateful they can be spared 'sleepless nights and their families getting s**t' because of on-field mistakes that could have been put right. She believes the VAR system has dramatically improved since its inception and that the good will outweigh the bad if people give it time. And it helps, undoubtedly, that there has not been a major VAR controversy in Norway's March-to-November season. Not yet, anyway. 'People all across the world are dissatisfied with VAR,' says Klaveness. 'Nobody is saying it's perfect. But it has improved a lot. In its first season in Norway, it disrupted the game. Since the second half of last season, it has had a very good flow.' It has been 25 years since Norway played in a men's World Cup or European Championship but last year, the national team was promoted to League A, the top level, in the Nations League. Klaveness says she is delighted by their upwards trajectory. And she has not forgotten one key detail. 'Erling Haaland scored a late goal that was very important,' she says of their 2-1 win against Austria in September. 'At first, it was annulled (for offside). Then VAR came along and the goal was allowed. We ended up winning our group. And, oh, what a feeling. Euphoria!'
New York Times
28-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Norwegian fans announce protests after professional clubs' vote to scrap VAR overruled
Norwegian football fans have announced a series of protests across the opening two matchdays of the top two divisions after its governing body voted to keep using Video Assistant Refereeing (VAR) despite its professional clubs voting to discontinue the system. The 2025 Eliteserien, Norway's top division, begins on Saturday March 28 and fans will stay out of stadiums for the first 15 minutes of each match before entering en masse as a protest against the recent decision to continue using VAR. Advertisement The Norwegian Supporter Alliance (NSA) drew up the initiative as a 'silent demonstration and walk-in', while a joint statement from supporters' groups at Oslo-based Valerenga say the action 'is intended to raise awareness that member democracy is under attack by anti-democratic forces who want to take control of Norwegian football'. In January, the 32 teams in Norsk Toppfotball (NTF), which represents clubs across Norway's top two divisions — the Eliteserien and First Division — passed a motion by 19 votes to 13 to request the Norway Football Federation (NFF) 'adopt the discontinuation of VAR as soon as possible'. However, the NFF responded by asking all 450 of its member clubs — the vast majority of whom are amateur and grassroots clubs who do not use the officiating technology — to vote on whether they wished to maintain VAR, with 321 voting in favour of keeping the system and 129 voting against. The Valerenga fan groups say the demonstration will 'symbolise what the abolition of member democracy can do to the supporter culture around Norwegian teams', with their view that the will of the NTF professional clubs has been ignored by the NFF. 'For this celebration to be successful, it will require everyone to make a sacrifice,' the joint statement added. 'We understand that everyone is looking forward to seeing our beloved Valerenga back in the league again, but we encourage everyone to find other solutions to watch the first 15 minutes. For example, venues will show the match on a big screen. 'As a last resort, there are still tickets available elsewhere in the stadium. We would like to emphasize that no attempts will be made to stop the matches. 'Defend member democracy!' VAR was introduced into Eliteserien in 2023 but has frequently been the subject of supporter protests. One incident in July 2024 saw the top-flight match between Rosenborg and Lillestrom abandoned after supporters threw tennis balls, fishcakes and smokebombs onto the pitch in protest against the technology. Advertisement A VAR report from the NFF in November stated the federation was being criticised for 'its communication style regarding VAR', adding: 'Players acknowledge that VAR has enhanced the fairness of refereeing decisions, but call for improvements in time management and more predictable procedures.' Elsewhere in Europe, Sweden became the first country to reject implementing VAR after fan backlash in May. In June Premier League clubs rejected proposals to scrap VAR following a motion from Wolverhampton Wanderers at the league's AGM. ()
