There’s little an ill-fated football fan enjoys more than telling other people how referees, the weather and the universe have conspired to ensure their team haven’t won the league, the FA Cup and everything else. But when the video assistant referee (commonly known by its acronym, VAR) came into being in the mid-2010s, the idea that referees could unduly (or unfairly) influence the outcomes of games was surely put to bed… or was it? Well, no, of course, it wasn’t!
As we’ll discover in this article, VAR is far from fool-proof (or controversy-proof or even conspiracy-proof, for that matter!). But before we delve into the worst, most controversial and, frankly, downright bizarre VAR decisions ever, let’s first take a brief look at what VAR actually is.
What Is VAR?
In case you’ve not been paying attention to football in the last decade or so, VAR is the mechanism by which certain incidents in a football match can be reviewed to minimise refereeing mistakes. Although often used to refer to the VAR system/procedure as a whole, the term video assistant referee (VAR) technically refers to the official in charge of reviewing incidents on the pitch. This official has an assistant, called the assistant video assistant referee (AVAR). Both are sometimes located within the ground at which the match is being played, although this is not always the case as sometimes the VARs and AVARs do their work from a central location.
For instance, the VAR officials working on Premier League matches are all located in the so-called video operation room (VOR… they love these similar acronyms!) in Stockley Park. Stockley Park, by the way, has been home to the Premier League’s VAR operations since 2019 and is near Hayes, in west London.
Four Types of VAR Decisions
VAR covers just four types of decisions:
- Goal or No Goal – If a goal has been scored, the VAR and AVAR check for anything that could cause it to be disallowed, namely whether there has been an offside, handball or other offence, or the ball had gone out of play.
- Penalty or No Penalty – If a penalty has been awarded or an offence has been spotted in the penalty area that was not penalised by the on-field referee, the VAR will assess things to see whether a penalty should be (or should have been) awarded.
- Straight Red Card – This check will happen every time a ref issues a straight red card (to ensure it was justified) but also in cases where possible sending-off offences may have been missed by the on-field referee, including where a yellow has been issued.
- Mistaken Identity – The VAR will alert the on-field ref if a yellow or red card has been issued to the wrong player (which has happened plenty of times over the years).
Once a check has been made by the VAR, the decision will be communicated to the referee. This sometimes doesn’t cause a delay to the game or at other times the on-field ref will stop play once the ball is not live, until the decision has been made. If the VAR has identified a possible “clear and obvious error”, the original decision made by the on-field ref can be overturned.
Alternatively, the on-field ref can be told to do an on-field review (OFR) whereby they view a monitor at the side of the pitch and make the decision themselves. The on-field ref can also choose to go their own way and disregard the advice offered by the VAR, though as fans know, once they are called over to the monitor, the chances are they will change their mind.
As Alan Shearer points out in the Premier League’s explanatory video about VAR, “Let’s be clear, we won’t see 100% accuracy. Some decisions will be subjective and not everyone will agree.” Well, you can certainly say that again, Alan! So let’s take a look at some of the worst or more controversial VAR decisions from around the globe.
1. Everton Denied Penalty Against Man City: 26 February, 2022
One of the worst VAR decisions in the Premier League came in February 2022 when relegation-threatened Everton were denied a penalty against table-toppers Man City at Goodison Park. Given that the match ended 1-0 to City, the penalty would have no doubt proved crucial in the context of the game. Everton went behind in the 82nd minute but just a few minutes later they were pressurising for the equaliser when Spanish midfielder Rodri (or Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, if you prefer) appeared to handle the ball in the City penalty area.
Referee, Paul Tierney, waved away the Everton appeals for a spot kick and the VAR check, carried out by Chris Kavanagh, deemed that – after an agonisingly long review – the on-field ref’s original decision should not be overturned. Everyone else watching clearly thought Rodri had used his arm to control the ball and it’s pretty darn blatant as you can see from the Sky Sports footage of the incident.
Everton fans, players and staff were flabbergasted at the decision and the club submitted a complaint to the Premier League. Mike Riley, the boss of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that officiates all Premier League matches, even called the then-Everton manager, Frank Lampar,d and the club’s chairman, Bill Kenwright, to apologise. But that was too little, too late for Everton, of course. All was well for the Toffees though in the end as they survived and, as they like to tell their neighbours in red, the penalty-that-wasn’t arguably cost Liverpool the Premier League title!
2. Scotland Women Undone by VAR World Cup Decision: 19 June, 2019
We turn to the women’s game next and the 2019 World Cup when Scotland faced Argentina in a group match in Paris. Scotland were cruising at 3-0 up with barely 20 minutes left on the clock before things started to fall apart. The South Americans pulled it back to 3-2 before the real drama in injury time.
Scotland substitute, Sophie Howard, put in a clumsy challenge on Aldana Cometti and the ref, North Korea’s Hyang-ok Ri, was urged by the VAR to check the incident by way of on-field review. The ref pointed to the spot, but that wasn’t the controversial part.
Scotland keeper, Lee Alexander, saved Florencia Bonsegundo’s penalty, much to the relief of the Scottish players and fans, but there was to be one final twist in the tale. Recently introduced rules regarding penalties asserted that at least part of one of the goalkeeper’s feet must be on or in line with the goal line when the penalty is taken. After the first penalty was saved, a VAR check adjudged that Alexander was off her line when the kick was taken. Which, to be fair (looking at 1.31 of this clip, she clearly was).
In many ways, this VAR decision wasn’t all that controversial. But Scotland went out of the World Cup on the back of it, and the fact they’d already had a penalty awarded by VAR and then been penalised for something which – at least up until that point – hadn’t been regularly flagged up, made it feel controversial.
3. Man United Beat PSG After VAR Handball Decision, 6 Mar 2019
As Shearer said, some decisions made by VARs are subjective, and this is highlighted particularly often when it comes to handball decisions. Manchester United were 2-0 down from the first leg when they travelled to France to face Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie in March 2019.
Not many pundits or neutrals gave the Red Devils much chance against a star-studded PSG side that included the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Marco Verratti, but two first-half goals from Romelu Lukaku set up what proved a fantastic night for Man United. PSG also scored in the opening period, through Spaniard Juan Bernat, but the game was very much in the balance until stoppage time.
The visitors, then managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, kept pushing for the goal they needed, and when Diogo Dalot’s speculative shot was deflected for a corner, it looked like it could be United’s last chance from the subsequent set piece. But, much to the horror of the PSG players, referee Damir Skomina spotted something and the VAR decision was that a penalty should be awarded for handball by PSG defender Presnel Kimpembe.
The decision was rather harsh in the eyes of many given that Dalot’s shot was hit with some force and Kimpembe was turning away from the ball at the point at which it struck his arm. But United fans didn’t care about that! Marcus Rashford stepped up to smash the penalty into the top corner and Man United went through to the CL quarter finals in dramatic fashion. They didn’t have quite so much fortune in the next round, however, when they got hammered 4-0 on aggregate by Barcelona.
4. 10-Man Wolves Go Down to VAR Armpitgate: 11 December, 2021
When Is An Armpit An Arm? When the VAR says it is. We return to the Premier League and to another VAR call that benefitted Manchester City on their way to another league title. This time, Wolves were on the receiving end of what was something of a questionable VAR decision, to put it politely. Wolves were pushing for European qualification at the time (seems a lifetime ago, hey Wolves fans?) and were competing well with Pep Guardiola’s side, despite having had Raul Jimenez sent off for two first-half bookings.
With the score at 0-0 and with just over 20 minutes left on the clock, Joao Moutinho blocked a cross from City’s Bernardo Silva and not many players made too much of it. But that didn’t stop a prolonged VAR check that resulted in the awarding of a penalty to Man City, despite the ball appearing to have struck Moutinho in his armpit. Raheem Sterling converted the penalty (his 100th Premier League goal) and the Citizen won the match 1-0.
5. Iran Reap the VAR Rewards at the World Cup: 25 June, 2018
The 2018 World Cup in Russia was the first time VAR had been used in the biggest football tournament on the planet, and it’s fair to say there were one or two controversies. The most notably questionable VAR decision at the tournament came in the Group B match between Iran and Portugal at the Mordovia Arena in Saransk.
VAR had already been used to award a penalty to Portugal (which was justified), but Cristiano Ronaldo’s spot kick was saved. CR7 was also showed a yellow card after a VAR check on a possible sending off, and again, that decision wasn’t a bad one. The real issue came in stoppage time.
Portugal were leading 1-0 (after a Ricardo Quaresma goal) when Iran swung a deep cross into the Portuguese box. Iran’s Sardar Azmoun headed the ball down under what looked like a fair challenge from Portuguese defender, Cedric Soares, but then the VAR had a look and – inexplicably, looking at the footage – deemed Soares to have hand-balled. If anything, it was Azmoun who had his hand on the defender and could have been penalised for a foul. To have decided that Soares handled the ball was certainly a confusing one given it was headed at him from just a few centimetres away.
Our friend from earlier, Alan Shearer (who clearly knows a thing or two about VAR) described the decision as “shambolic”, even going so far as to suggest the video assistant referee must be “crazy” if he thought that was a deliberate handball.
Other Controversial VAR Decisions
There were so many other decisions we could have included here but with new errors occurring almost every month, we had to draw the line somewhere. As well as the five we’ve picked out there have been plenty of other controversial VAR decisions, such as when Everton’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford avoided a red card for his rather reckless challenge on Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk (the Reds man didn’t play again all season)! Or indeed when England captain, Harry Kane, also avoided getting his marching orders after a nasty-looking “tackle” on Liverpool’s Andy Robertson (after which Kane said “I thought I won the ball.” We didn’t, Harry!). Or, we could go on.
Of course, we’re not writing an article here on the many, many decisions that VARs have got correct since being introduced. There have been loads of occasions when VAR decisions have rescued teams that would otherwise have suffered injustices, but of course, they don’t tend to make the headlines or get the blood boiling in quite the same way.
But, thankfully, for any football fans who like a good moan, VARs are sure to get things wrong every so often and, if we’re being honest, such controversy adds to the fun of football (unless it’s your team on the receiving end of an appalling decision, that is!).