Fifa has approved the use of video assistant referees (VAR) for the first time at the World Cup during a meeting of the organisations council in Bogata.

Earlier this week, VAR won official approval from the International Football Association Board [Ifab], football’s rule-making body, at its annual general meeting in Zurich.

The Fifa Council consequently convened on Friday in Colombia, where president Gianni Infantino confirmed the decision had been taken to use the controversial technology.

‘We also spoke about football, we’re going to have our first World Cup in 2018 with [the] video assistant refereeing system,’ Infantino told a news conference.

‘This has been adopted and approved and obviously, we are extremely happy with that decision.’

The world governing body’s formal announcement comes after the International Football Association Board ‘unanimously approved’ the introduction of VAR on a permanent basis earlier this month.

Ifab is made up of Fifa and the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Each FA has one vote to Fifa’s four, with six votes required for a change in the laws.

The body made the decision to approve the technology following the results of an independent analysis conducted by Belgian university KU Leuven.