Since the beginning of professional soccer, known as football internationally, all decisions made during a match rested on the split-second judgment of the on-field referees. These rulings were meant to be quick to not disrupt the flow of the game, and were more often than not a black-or-white decision: Was it a foul, or was it not? 

However, as soccer grew in popularity, so did the stakes of the games, with one false verdict being the difference between a team lifting the trophy or losing it all together. So, there needed to be a way for officials to double-check their calls to ensure that they are accurate and on point— and that’s where VAR comes in.

VAR, more formally known as Video Assistant Referee, is a group of three assistant referees who operate a semi-automated device that can record all movement on the pitch from different angles. They can constantly communicate with the on-field referee about any mistakes that may have occurred. It was approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 2018, and made its first major appearance in the 2018 Russia World Cup. 

In fact, in the same tournament, the Group E matchup between Brazil and Costa Rica in the 78th minute is a great example of why VAR was implemented. After Brazilian player Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. was dragged down in the penalty area with the score tied at 0-0, referee Björn Kuipers originally gave Brazil a penalty kick, but revoked the decision after determining that there was ‘insufficient contact’ through VAR.  Either way, Brazil still won that match 2-0. Ultimately, this was the correct decision as although there was pulling on the Brazilian’s jersey, the foul was exaggerated and would’ve been a very soft and questionable call.

However, as someone who has watched the sport for years, this is almost never the case. Even with VAR being available, it’s still not always able to make the correct decisions during decisive moments every single time. Taking two instances from the recent 2024 European Championship quarterfinals, Germany was denied a clear penalty kick in the 105th minute despite the ball visibly hitting the hand of a Spanish player. Spain would then capitalize with a goal 15 minutes later to knock Germany out of the tournament. According to the IFAB’s official rulebook, VAR can and should only be used in the event of a ‘clear and obvious error’ or ‘serious missed incident’ such as checking a goal or a potential penalty. UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), the organization that holds the quadrennial event, ultimately declared it as a “referee mistake,” but no further action was taken as Spain went on to win the tournament. 

In another quarter-final match between England and Switzerland, another handball offense was committed by Swiss player Remo Freuler outside of the box early on in the game. Although this foul had much less significance, the rules of the game state, “The referee must always make a decision, i.e. the referee is not permitted to give ‘no decision’ and then use the VAR to make the decision…” In both cases, the referees completely denied the existence of the foul and allowed play to continue, meaning that VAR wouldn’t have been involved in the final decision. 

Now, this is where things get difficult. To use VAR to make correct decisions, the referees must first call the foul, which would stop play and allow them to go to VAR. In a game with tens of thousands of fans present, this is understandably a hard decision for any referee to make as incorrectly stopping play could interfere with a team’s rhythm, wasting precious time for fans. Or worse, they could make the wrong call entirely. This can be easily fixed by making a new rule that allows the off-field referees, who can rewind the game footage through VAR, to be involved in the decision-making process as well. Since they’re also qualified referees, they can communicate with the on-field referee through a hooked-up system about a missed call, while the on-field official can focus on the action on the pitch rather than what happened before.

But, it’s not always about the referees, but more about VAR within itself. 

In the modern game, players constantly make runs down the field to open up spaces and create chances for teammates or themselves to score. Before VAR, these runs only needed to be as accurate as the sideline referees who saw them, who ultimately got to decide whether or not a play was offside. In simpler terms, the offside rule states that an attacking player must be behind the second-to-last defender of the opposing team at the time a pass is played. 

The reality is that VAR can show the position of every player at any given time with a level of precision significantly higher than that of a human. One instance of this would be Argentine soccer player Lautaro Martinez’s offside goal against Saudi Arabia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which was controversially marked offside after a fraction of Martinez’s shoulder crossed the offside line drawn by VAR. The key point here is that a human referee would have never calculated the position that precisely and neither would have any player. Even with countless hours of training to avoid the offside flag being raised in a game, humans will never be able to play at the level that VAR demands every single time, making it unfair to put even the best of the best players to the standard of a machine.

Finally, with VAR being involved in the sport for more than seven years now, mistakes are still part of the game. The best solution would be to let on-field referees make decisions freely according to their instincts. Or, at the very least, VAR officials should have more ability to influence decisions on the field and should be more involved in the decision-making process. After all, the sport is called ‘the beautiful game’.