How VAR works in football and which decisions it can change
The video assistant referee can only step in on four kinds of decision, and the referee on the pitch still has the final say. A plain guide for anyone watching from the sofa or the stands.
Few things start an argument in a living room faster than a long wait for a VAR check. The video assistant referee has been part of top-level football for several years, including in the Premier League since the 2019/20 season, but plenty of fans are still unsure what it can and cannot do. The rules are set by the International Football Association Board, the body that writes football's Laws of the Game.
Who the VAR is. The VAR is a qualified referee who watches the match on screens away from the pitch, supported by assistants and replay operators. They can see the action from many camera angles, in slow motion and frame by frame. They talk to the referee on the pitch through a headset.
The four types of decision
VAR can only be used to help with four kinds of match-changing situation:
- Goals. Whether a goal should stand, for example because of offside, a foul in the build-up, a handball or the ball going out of play.
- Penalties. Whether a penalty should or should not have been given.
- Direct red cards. Whether a player should be sent off straight away. A second yellow card is not reviewed.
- Mistaken identity. When the referee has cautioned or sent off the wrong player.
Anything else, such as a throw-in or a corner given the wrong way, or most yellow cards, is outside VAR's remit.
"Clear and obvious"
VAR is not meant to re-referee the whole match. It should only step in when there has been a "clear and obvious error" or a serious incident that the referee missed. If the decision on the pitch was a reasonable judgement, even one the VAR might not have made, it is supposed to stand.
That is why some decisions that look wrong on television are not overturned. The question is not "was the referee right?" but "was the referee clearly wrong?"
Checks and reviews
Every goal, penalty and red card incident is checked automatically in the background while play carries on. Most checks are quick and the viewer never knows they happened.
If the VAR thinks there may be a clear error, they recommend a review. There are two ways this can go:
- For factual decisions, such as whether a player was offside or whether the ball crossed the line before a goal, the referee can accept the VAR's information without looking at a screen.
- For judgement calls, such as whether a challenge was a foul, the referee usually goes to the pitchside monitor to watch the replay. This is called an on-field review. The referee then makes the final decision.
The referee signals a review by drawing the outline of a screen in the air with their hands.
Why offside checks take so long. Offside is decided by the position of a player's body when the ball is played, and the margins can be a matter of centimetres. To check it, the VAR team picks the exact frame when the ball was played and draws lines across the pitch using the camera images. Competitions have introduced technology to speed this up, but very tight calls can still take time.
Watching at home. Broadcasters usually show the replays the VAR is looking at, and the referee's decision is announced in the stadium and on screen. Different competitions handle the details slightly differently, so a check in a European game may not look exactly like one in a domestic league match.
Whatever happens, the referee on the pitch makes the final decision. VAR can advise, but it cannot overrule.
