A video assistant referee (VAR) official has raised eyebrows for appearing to make a hand sign before Germany’s World Cup opening match against Curaçao in Houston on Sunday. The broadcast feed initially focused on the on-field crew before the camera showed the three officials who were assigned to handle reviews out of FIFA’s international broadcast center in Dallas.

FIFA’s discrimination monitor had called for video review official Shaun Evans to be removed from the tournament.

The most controversial part of modern soccer, VAR, is bound to impact FIFA's biggest tournament, the World Cup..

According to reports in Italy, VAR officials were allegedly influenced by external figures, such as referees’ chief Gianluca Rocchi, who used ‘coded messages’ to suggest whether to alert the referee on the pitch. Read Football Italia Ad-Free and get ...