Only use VAR when error blatant - referee chiefs

What the report says

BBC Sport reports that European refereeing leaders have urged video assistant referees to intervene only when an on-field decision is clearly wrong or when officials have missed an obvious incident. The discussion took place last week at a meeting involving chief refereeing officers from all 55 European national associations, Uefa refereeing officials and a representative of the International Football Association Board.

According to Uefa, those present said VAR should return to the approach set out when it was written into football’s laws in 2018: limited intervention for major errors involving goals, penalties, direct red cards and mistaken identity. The refereeing officials warned that long, highly detailed checks can be a sign that the original decision was not plainly incorrect, and said VAR should not become a tool for effectively officiating the match again.

BBC Sport also reported that the meeting addressed Ifab clarification on the “mistaken identity” rule introduced before this summer’s World Cup. Under that guidance, VAR may review cautions only to determine which player committed the offence that was punished, rather than to reconsider the nature of the offence itself. Switzerland’s Breel Embolo was cited in the report as the first player sent off under the new law after VAR intervened in a match against Argentina.

The officials also backed recent law changes aimed at cutting avoidable delays, including limits around restarts, substitutions, injuries and goalkeeper tactical timeouts. The debate matters because VAR remains one of football’s most contested officiating tools, with leagues and competitions seeking consistency while preserving the authority of the referee on the pitch.