VAR usage has become a growing concern for UEFA, something that will be addressed in a meeting with representatives from the Premier League and other major competitions.
UEFA has called a meeting with the referee chiefs from Europe’s five major leagues (the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) to reassess the application of VAR. The overuse of the technology is the main concern and will be the central focus of discussions.
“I believe that we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced,” said Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s head of refereeing, recently, according to BBC Sport. “In objective decisions, it is fantastic. For interpretations, subjective evaluation is more difficult. That’s why we started to speak about clear and obvious mistakes — clear evidence.”
Current concerns are focused on determining in which situations VAR intervention is justified and what level of strictness should be applied. The technology was originally introduced to eliminate clear errors that could change the course of a match — or even a tournament.
That is why the initial VAR guidelines were limited to the most decisive moments in soccer: whether the ball crossed the goal line, whether a penalty should be awarded, or whether a foul warranted a red card. However, over time, its scope has expanded, along with the growing expectation for greater precision in decision-making.
VAR in use during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
VAR continues to grow in influence across soccer
While UEFA appears focused on reducing VAR intervention to only the most important situations — and as minimally as possible — other governing bodies in soccer are moving in the opposite direction.
The International Football Association Board recently approved a series of rule changes set to take effect this year. Among them is an expansion of VAR usage into two situations that were previously outside its scope.
One involves second yellow cards leading to dismissals, which were originally not subject to review. VAR will now be allowed to check the second caution. The other involves corner kicks, which may now be reviewed in terms of whether they were correctly awarded, provided it does not cause excessive delays to the game.
European leagues with the highest and lowest VAR intervention rates
As UEFA looks to reduce VAR intervention, the Premier League appears to be the model to follow. England’s top flight has the lowest rate of VAR usage among Europe’s five major leagues, averaging 0.275 interventions per match. La Liga and the Bundesliga follow with 0.38. Serie A ranks fourth at 0.44, while France’s Ligue 1 records the highest usage, with VAR intervening 0.47 times per match.