Season kick-off course prepares Europe's VARs for action

Ensuring consistency in officiating across European football is crucial to the success of UEFA's world-class competitions.

On Monday, we underlined our commitment to this ever-evolving topic, welcoming over 160 elite VAR experts – some in person at UEFA HQ and some online – to a special course that prepares them for the season ahead.

The event marks a significant milestone as we seek complete consistency throughout both UEFA and domestic competitions across Europe, setting out what is expected from VARs when the action begins in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

"This course is essential for us," said UEFA refereeing director Roberto Rosetti. "Every single referee and VAR is important to this project and it is good to be together and share clips and reminders with everybody.

"We want to finish every match with the right results and the correct interventions, and we still want referees taking decisions on the pitch but the importance of the people working in VAR is clear and extremely important for UEFA competitions. We always said that we have the best referees in the world, and I am 100 per cent convinced that we also have the best VARs."

Clarity key for officials

Course topics ranged from offside procedures to assessing high challenges, as well as identifying objective criteria in decision-making, with a recognised need for consistency and alignment across the board. The sessions were led by Rosetti, UEFA refereeing officer Carlos Velasco and VAR expert Pawel Gil.

Leading officials also shared some of their own insights with their colleagues. Germany's Bastian Dankert, 45, is one of the most experienced and accomplished VARs in European football and recognises a clear value in coordination and alignment.

"Courses like this are very important because we have so many different officials from associations across Europe and it's important to get one clear line on what is expected," he explained.

"VAR has helped football a lot and it's very good that we implement technology into UEFA competitions," Dankert continued. "We started with a very good approach and seven, eight years later, we are doing very well, but it is still helpful to see situations from different competitions where we can discuss and see exactly which process we have to follow."

Bastian Dankert was VAR for last season's UEFA Europa League finalUEFA via Getty Images

VAR: Evolution and optimisation

The course follows European football's inaugural VAR Symposium in April, where leading figures and experts joined us in Lisbon to assess the impact of technology on refereeing and the challenges to overcome.

Forty-six of our 55 national associations either use or have announced that they will adopt VAR in their domestic leagues, strengthening the need for uniformity across the game, in terms of how and when technology is applied to decision-making, and the best way to communicate this to fans and broadcasters.

Since the event, we have compiled a selection of best practices from leagues and competitions throughout Europe, which will be shared with national associations in the coming months to help them optimise their delivery.