Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain the VAR review protocol, the four reviewable categories, and the role of the Referee Review Area.

Lesson Explanation

Building on Part 1, Lesson 4’s introduction and Part 4, Lesson 3’s SAOT coverage, this lesson covers the complete VAR protocol as it operates in competitions using the system.

VAR may only review four categories of decision, first listed in Part 1, Lesson 4: goals and offences leading up to them; penalty decisions and offences leading up to them; direct red card incidents (not second cautions); and mistaken identity when cautioning or sending off the wrong player. This deliberately narrow scope prevents VAR from becoming a review of every subjective decision in the match.

The review process: the VAR communicates with the referee via headset when a “check” identifies a possible clear and obvious error, or a serious missed incident, in one of the four categories. Most checks are resolved silently, with no on-field pause, since the VAR simply confirms the original decision was correct. If a genuinely clear and obvious error is identified, the referee is advised, and may either accept the VAR’s recommendation directly or choose to conduct an on-field review by going to the Referee Review Area (RRA) to view the incident personally on a monitor before making a final decision.

The 2025/26 season introduced genuinely important transparency improvements previewed in this course’s curriculum note: VAR announcements are now made across the stadium public address system to clarify the outcome of reviews (except for straightforward factual offside/onside confirmations), and disallowed goals confirmed by VAR are shown on the stadium screen with the definitive clip or image explaining the decision — both changes aimed at improving spectator understanding and trust in the process, addressing a genuinely common criticism of earlier VAR implementations that left fans in the stadium uncertain about what was being reviewed or why a decision was reached.

Throughout this entire process, the “Referee’s Call” principle from Part 1, Lesson 3 governs: the on-field referee’s original decision stands unless the evidence shows a clear and obvious error, preserving the primacy of on-field judgment that this course has emphasized since its opening lesson.

Practice Questions