Video replays could be used at the 2018 World Cup, new FIFA president Gianni Infantino said Tuesday. The International Football Association Board, which sets soccer's rules, approved trials of video assistance last month. Calling the technology "something that everyone was waiting for," Infantino said it could be used on the sport's biggest stage almost as soon as those experiments come to an end. "This test period will start now, will take two years. This will mean that by March 2018 we will see if it works or not," Infantino said. "We will know in time and I hope that Russia 2018 will be the first World Cup where the referees will be a helped a little bit by video technology." Tests initially will be in private before moving to a live pilot phase with replay assistance by the 2017-18 season at the latest, IFAB ruled last month. The use of video will be restricted to referees ruling whether a goal has been scored, a penalty should be awarded and a player should be sent off as well as cases of mistaken identity. A large multi-camera operation will be required for games where video assistance is used. Infantino also defended Russia's human rights record in his first visit to the 2018 World Cup host nation since taking charge of FIFA, saying the country was "open and welcoming." The visit came a week after a human rights report by Harvard professor John Ruggie, commissioned by FIFA, raised concerns about Russia's law prohibiting gay "propaganda" and the treatment of migrant workers. "FIFA is not the world welfare agency but we have to be responsible about these things, we have to be responsible about the position we take about human rights," Infantino said when asked about Ruggie's concerns. "We have to address all the issues and I think that these events give the opportunity to speak about topics which maybe are not pleasant, which maybe sometimes are not directly linked." Infantino began his tour Tuesday with a visit to Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, which is undergoing a major rebuild to be ready for the World Cup final. Infantino looked over the construction site of the 81,000-seat stadium with Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin and gave a double thumbs-up gesture. While the pitch area is still sand, criss-crossed by construction machinery, the basic concrete structure of the stands is in place. The new FIFA president is on a four-day tour of Russia and Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup. Qatar FA loses German lawsuit A German court Tuesday threw out a lawsuit brought by the Qatar Football Association (QFA) against ex-German FA boss Theo Zwanziger for describing their right to host the 2002 World Cup as a "cancer on world football". In February, Zwanziger had already been told in Duesseldorf's district court that his comments, made to a German radio station in June 2015, were covered by freedom of speech. The 70-year-old has been an outspoken critic of the decision in December 2010 by world football's governing body FIFA to award the 2022 Finals to the Gulf state. The QFA sued Zwanziger for a nominal sum of 100,000 euros ($108,305) after he told public broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk: "I have always said that Qatar was a cancerous growth on world football. It all started with that decision." On Tuesday, judge Joachim Matz dismissed the Qataris' lawsuit in his verdict, saying that although Zwanziger's comment was an "insulting evaluation", it was covered by the right to freedom of speech in Germany. Zwanziger, a trained lawyer who stepped down as German Football Association (DFB) president in 2012, was not in court to hear Matz's decision, but was pleased with the verdict. The QFA now has one month to appeal.
