‘Abuse of technology’: Croatia lodge official FIFA complaint after controversial World Cup exit to Portugal

Croatia’s Josko Guardiol (4) scores a goal against Portugal goalkeeper Diego Costa (1), which was later called off for offside (AP Photo) Croatia have formally written to FIFA following their dramatic FIFA World Cup Round of 32 elimination against Portugal, accusing football’s governing body of allowing technology to overstep its role in the match-fixing decision.The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) questioned the use of advanced technology during Portugal’s 2-1 win, with its complaint centering on the video assistant referee (VAR) process and the use of data generated by the Trionda match ball.Controversy developed deep into stoppage time when Joško Guardiol looked set to score the equalizer that would have kept Croatia’s World Cup hopes alive. Although the goal was initially awarded, referee Espen Eskås overturned the decision after a lengthy VAR review.Offside was not based solely on conventional television footage. Instead, FIFA’s ball technology detected what officials determined was a minute of touching Igor Matanović’s hair before the ball reached Guardiola, changing the offside calculation and leading to the goal being disallowed.While television footage showed the goal as legitimate, FIFA defended the decision by pointing to data collected by sensors embedded inside the official match ball.In a statement, FIFA said: “The IMU sensors located in the Trionda ball are able to detect any minute contact, which will be displayed to viewers on the broadcast as a ‘heartbeat graphic’, giving officials an unprecedented amount of data to make quick and accurate decisions.”However, Croatia believes the incident raises wider concerns about the direction of officiating in football. The federation argues that relying on imperceptible contact detected only through technology exceeds the intended purpose of VAR and departs from the principle of correcting only “clear and obvious” errors.The HNS complaint also challenges the decision to award Portugal a second-half penalty, which Cristiano Ronaldo converted in the 68th minute to level the scores.Speaking to RTL Danas, HNS spokesman Tomislav Pacak explained why the federation decided to escalate the matter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.“The Croatian Football Association sent a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in which we expressed our deep disappointment and disapproval of the match against Portugal, not because of the referee’s decisions as such, as they can be discussed after every match, but because of the very process that led to those decisions.“First of all, we believe that the VAR protocol was completely misapplied in the penalty kick for Portugal and the referee should not have been called to review the footage. More importantly, in Guardiola’s equaliser, Pasalic was ruled offside against the rules and spirit of football due to Matanovic’s non-existent ball play as the sensor showed it.”Pacak stressed that Croatia is not against technological innovation in football, but believes it should not undermine the spirit of the game.“We believe that this is a misuse of technology, which we welcome in football, but we believe that this application is not beneficial to FIFA, the teams and football fans, and we know that our letter will not reduce the pain and disappointment of fans and players, but we believe that it is important to warn FIFA and demand a detailed explanation of all decisions,” he concluded.FIFA has so far stood by the decision-making process and the technology used during the match, but Croatia’s formal complaint has intensified the debate over the extent to which technological assistance should influence crucial decisions at football’s biggest tournament.