Swedish Professional Football Leagues follows the development and the ongoing discussion about the possible introduction of VAR in Allsvenskan and the Superettan. Currently, a majority of the organization members have an annual meeting resolution to actively oppose an introduction.
“Our task is to represent our members in the matter and since a majority out of the 32 member clubs are against VAR this is what we need to bring to the table in the upcoming discussions”, says Johan Lindvall, general secretary of Swedish Professional Football Leagues.
Swedish Professional Football Leagues works on behalf of the member clubs and has a regular dialogue with all of the Swedish football stakeholders in order to strengthen the elite clubs positions. On the VAR issue, Swedish Professional Football Leagues is in constant conversation with the Swedish Football Association to make clear that a majority of the member clubs are actively against the introduction of VAR.
“Sweden is currently the only country among Europe’s 30 highest-ranked leagues that has not decided to introduce VAR. The fact that we have not done so is largely due to our democratic model. We are proud of our club democracy and we must protect it”, says Johan Lindvall.
A decision on a possible introduction is made at the Swedish Football Association’s representative board meeting. The representative board meeting, where representatives from Swedish Professional Football Leagues are involved has announced that the VAR issue will not be taken up for decision this year. The VAR issue can therefore be tested at the earliest at the next representative body, which is scheduled for autumn 2024.
