VAR Under Scrutiny For ‘Microscopic’ Interventions, Says UEFA Chief

UEFA’s head of refereeing, Roberto Rosetti, has voiced concerns that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is becoming “too microscopic” in its review of subjective decisions, moving away from its original purpose of correcting “clear and obvious errors.”

Rosetti, without singling out specific competitions, highlighted a growing frustration among fans who feel VAR is re-refereeing matches rather than addressing blatant mistakes. He emphasised that while technology excels with factual decisions, its application to interpretations and subjective evaluations proves more challenging.

“I believe we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced,” Rosetti stated, reflecting on the initial discussions eight years ago about its role in addressing clear errors. He added, “We cannot go in this direction of microscopic VAR intervention. We love football like it is.” He noted that super slow-motion replays can reveal details that distort the original context of an incident.

The Italian official’s comments come amid ongoing debate, including recent social media criticism regarding a disallowed Manchester City goal against Liverpool. In that instance, VAR correctly intervened to disallow the goal and send off Dominik Szoboszlai after Erling Haaland’s clear foul following an initial challenge.

Despite his concerns about over-analysis, Rosetti sees “zero contradiction” in potentially extending VAR’s remit to cover corner kick checks, provided it doesn’t “delay the start of play.” He stressed that any intervention that significantly slows down the game is “not good for football.”

Interestingly, the Premier League currently averages fewer on-field reviews per game (0.15) compared to the Champions League (0.36), suggesting differing applications of the technology across competitions.