Football’s lawmakers say that video referees have been a clear success at the World Cup but that critics have to accept the system will not eliminate officials’ mistakes entirely.

Two directors of the International FA Board (IFAB) have told The Times that Iran were wrongly awarded a penalty against Portugal after a VAR review, but they believe that all other decisions have been correct and that significant injustices have been avoided. There were 14 formal VAR reviews in the first 36 matches and although some of the subjective decisions were questioned, both IFAB board members say that the penalty decision for Iran by Enrique Cáceres, the Paraguayan referee, on Monday is the only one that was wrong.

More criticism has been focused on incidents where