Video assistant referee

The video assistant referee (VAR) is an association football assistant referee that reviews decisions made by the head referee with the use of video footage and a headset for communication.

There are 4 types of calls that can be reviewed.

The standard for overturning the referee's original decision is that there has been a "clear error", sometimes expanded to "clear and obvious error".

The process begins with the video assistant referee and his/her assistant reviewing the play in question on a bank of monitors. This can be triggered by the referee requesting the review or by the VAR can conducting a "silent review" to see if he or she should recommend a review to the referee. If the VAR believes there has been a potential clear error, he or she will contact the referee with that judgment. The referee can then either (a) change the call on the advice of the VAR or (b) conduct an on field review (OFR) by going to a designated spot on the sideline to review the video or (c) decide that he/she is confident in the original call and not conduct an OFR. The referee is allowed to stop play to reverse a call or conduct an OFR, but it not supposed to do so when either team is engaged in good attacking possibility.

The official signal for a video review is by the referee making the outline of a rectangle with his index fingers (indicating a video screen). This precedes both any OFR as well as any change in the original call. Players who demand a video review by making the rectangle motion are to be cautioned with a yellow card. Players who enter the area where the referee conducts an OFR are also to be cautioned with a yellow card, and team officials who do so are to be dismissed.

There are guidelines the referee and the VAR should follow in conducting a video review. For example, slow motion should only be used for "point of contact" offences, such as physical offences and handballs. Regular speed should be used to determine the intensity of an offence and whether a handball was deliberate. Reviews for goals, penalty kick decisions, and red cards for denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity cover the period back to the beginning of the "attacking possession phase", when the attacking team first gained possession of the ball or restarted play. Other reviews only cover the incident itself.

The VAR will be either a current or former referee. The VAR may be located in the stadium where the match is being played or at another location.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that determines the Laws of the Game, approved the use of video referees during its June 2016 meeting.

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