El Salvador's FVS debut marred by technical glitches

The Football Video Support (FVS) system was launched in the Liga Mayor Apertura 2026 first round, intended to aid referees with video review. Out of six matches, the technology failed in three – Atlético Balboa vs Inter Santa Tecla, INCA Aruba vs Alianza, and Águila vs Luis Ángel Firpo. The most notable outage occurred at the Juan Francisco Barraza stadium, where the system was unavailable for the first half of the Águila‑Firpo match due to an internet failure; service was restored at halftime and the system was used to review a penalty in the second half. The other three fixtures (FAS‑Municipal Limeño, Cacahuatique‑Isidro Metapán, and Fuerte San Francisco‑Platense) operated without incident.

FIFA protocol states that a match continues without video assistance if the technology fails, and the games were not postponed. The incident highlighted the need for robust connectivity infrastructure for reliable operation. The FVS is already in use in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, while Costa Rica and Honduras continue with traditional VAR.