Soccer legend Diego Maradona has served as an ambassador for FIFA this year, and he’s supporting FIFA’s use of the Video Assistant Referee system despite being the beneficiary of a non-call that led to one of the most memorable goals of all-time — the “Hand of God.”
“There have been lots of incidents where World Cup history would have been different if technology had been used,” Maradona told FIFA.com in an interview that was published Tuesday. “It’s time to change all that.”
It was Maradona whose handball in a quarterfinal match against England in the 1986 World Cup helped Argentina go on to win the tournament.
Maradona attended the FIFA Confederations Cup final earlier this month, according to FIFA, which had tested VAR during the tournament only to see it create enough controversy that president Gianni Infantino had to release a statement of support.
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Now it’s FIFA that is reporting that Maradona is in favor of VAR — which is used in game-changing situations — and quoting that the legend said with a laugh that he thinks of the “Hand of God” goal whenever he shows his support for the use of technology.
“Football can’t fall behind,” Maradona was quoted as saying. “Given the rate at which technology is advancing and the fact that every sport uses it, how can we not think about using it in football?
“People used to say that we’d waste a lot of time, that it would cause a lot of annoyance. But that’s not the case.
“People get annoyed when something that shouldn’t be given is given, or when you have a goal wrongly disallowed. Technology brings transparency and quality, and it provides a positive outcome for teams who decide to attack and take risks.”
As for the Hand of God goal?
“I thought about it and, sure, that goal wouldn’t have stood if technology had been around,” Maradona said. “And I’ll tell you something else: at the 1990 World Cup I used my hand to clear the ball off the line against the Soviet Union. We were lucky because the referee didn’t see it. You couldn’t use technology back then, but it’s a different story today.”