The Basics of Video Assistant Referee (VAR)

VAR stands for video assistant referee. It is actually a team of three people who work together to review certain decisions made by the main referee by watching video replays of the relevant incidents.  That team is comprised of the video assistant referee himself (who will be a current or former referee), his assistant and a replay operator.

They are situated in a video operation room which is essentially a bank of monitors offering different camera angles.  Four types of decisions can be reviewed using Video Assistant Referee (VAR) goals (and violations in the build-up to them), penalties, red cards and mistaken identity in awarding a card.

For a decision made on the pitch to be overturned and it must be a clear error.  For examples, for goals the role of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is to assist the referee to determine whether there was an infringement that means a goal should not be awarded. As the ball has crossed the line, play is interrupted so there is no direct impact on the game.  Next, penalty decision when the role of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is to ensure that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with the award or non-award of a penalty kick.  For direct red card incident, the role of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is to ensure that no clearly wrong decisions are made in conjunction with sending off or not sending off a player.  Last but not least, mistaken identity the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player, or is unsure which player should be sanctioned.

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will inform the referee so that the correct player can be disciplined.  The process for reviewing a decision can work in two ways either the referee can request a review after making a decision or the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) team can recommend one. In the latter situation, if the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) judges that there is the potential for a clear error to have been made he or she can notify the referee. 

The referee then has three options when they can immediately overturn the call based on the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) advice, review the incident themselves on a monitor on the touchline or stick with their initial decision.