Home / Sports / Uefa to Convene Top Leagues on VAR Usage This Summer
Uefa to Convene Top Leagues on VAR Usage This Summer
19 Mar
Summary
- Uefa summons top European leagues to discuss VAR's interpretation.
- Goal is to revert VAR to intervening only in clearest errors.
- Leagues operate VAR with varying intervention rates.
This summer, Uefa has scheduled a crucial meeting with the heads of refereeing from Europe's elite football leagues, including the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga, and Ligue 1. The primary agenda item is to reassess how Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology is being implemented across these competitions.
Roberto Rosetti, Uefa's head of referees, initiated this summit, expressing concern that VAR has moved towards "microscopic interventions." He emphasized that the technology's original purpose was to correct only clear and obvious mistakes, particularly in objective decisions, while subjective calls remain more challenging.
The meeting will focus on the thresholds and criteria currently applied by each league when using VAR. Data reveals significant disparities, with intervention rates varying from 0.275 per game in the Premier League to 0.47 in Ligue 1. The Champions League averages 0.45 interventions per game.
Uefa aims to foster a "single technical language" among leagues to ensure consistent application of football laws, such as handball rules. The hope is that this discussion will lead to a more harmonized and universally understood approach to VAR usage across European football.
