VAR protocols could be set to change as IFAB have given the go-ahead for a trial instructing referees to announce their decision-making to crowds and viewers.

Scottish football introduced the technology to top-flight matches in October with a series of controversial decisions causing uproar among fanbases, coaching staffs and pundits alike.

Now referees at the upcoming Club World Cup will have to explain the reasons behind their decisions to the crowd at the ground as well as the television audience watching on at home.

The Times reports that during the trial tournament, which takes place in Morocco, the officials will be mic'd up to the stadium's public address system to announce their verdicts. Conversations between officials will stay private.

IFAB, football's law-makers, gave the trial the green light in London on Wednesday and the experiment could be rolled out to the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in the summer.

At the same meeting, IFAB rejected proposals to introduce a countdown clock in place of referees as the official timekeepers of matches.

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou recently criticised the length of time officials seemed to be taking to reach decisions and opined that as the worst part of the VAR experience to date.

He said: "The biggest problem for me and my players at the moment is just confusion. You’ve got players who are trying to defend in the box not knowing what they can and can’t do. It seems to change on a weekly basis.

“That’s where it’s frustrating for supporters, not just of our club. That could be a decision that sends a club down, relegates them. If someone watching our game, the Premiership, can clearly define to me with the decisions we’ve had so far what is a handball, without trying to justify decisions, I’d be very surprised. I think it’s a bit of a mess at the moment.”

Pundits such as Michael Stewart have offered the stance that some of the issues Scottish football has been experiencing are more to do with the interpretation of officials than the technology itself.

Earlier this month, he said: "Fundamentally what I think is the problem, particularly going back to the handball law, is that yes it's about individuals and their interpretation of it but my problem is that I think the referees are interpreting it in the complete wrong fashion."