The last step toward giving match officials high-tech help in Russia was agreed to on Friday (Saturday morning AEDT) by FIFA's ruling council chaired by president Gianni Infantino.

The decision came two weeks after FIFA's rule-making panel voted to write video assistant referees (VAR) into the laws of soccer.

That landmark move still left competition organisers to opt to use video review in their games, and FIFA's ruling committee had to sign off on the World Cup decision.

BREAKING NEWS - VAR has officially been given the green light for use at the World Cup. Right move? #VAR pic.twitter.com/yV6rZP7JjL — DW Sports (@dw_sports) March 16, 2018

FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel wrote on his Twitter account that clear communication would be important to make the system a success.

Referees can call on VAR to review and overturn "clear and obvious errors" plus "serious missed incidents" involving goals, penalty awards, red cards and mistaken identity.

Infantino acknowledged two weeks ago that VAR was "not perfect" after the rules panel, known as IFAB, met in Zurich.

In 18 months of trials worldwide, including at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia, Bundesliga, and Serie A, reviews have often been slower than promised and communication has been unclear in the stadium.

Controversy has been stirred even by the most experienced VAR officials who have handled many more games than most referees who will work at the June 14-July 15 World Cup tournament.