Factual decisions
Here we cover decisions of fact rather than of judgement. Either the ball was out of play or it was not. Either the offence happened inside the penalty area or outside it. Where the footage answers the question, the VAR informs the referee and the decision is corrected without an on-field review.
There are certain objective or factual situations in which the VAR should always intervene and, in most cases, the referee will change the original decision without the need for an on-field review. These include:
- An offside before a goal, a penalty kick or a red card (for Denial of a Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) or second yellow card for stopping a promising attack) where an attacker in an offside position touches or plays the ball in the build-up (Video 1 below)
- Whether the ball has gone out of play in the build-up to a goal, a penalty kick or a red card
- A situation where the goalscorer touches the ball with their hand or arm immediately before a goal, even if accidental (Video 2 & 3)
- Whether an offence sanctioned with a direct free kick occurs inside or outside the penalty area (Video 4)
- A clearly incorrectly awarded corner, provided that the decision can be changed without delaying the restart (Video 5)
- An encroachment offence by the goalkeeper at a penalty (Video 6)
- A double touch by a penalty taker (Video 7)
- A player encroaching into the area at a penalty and subsequently playing the ball (Video 8, 9, 10 & 11)
The rationale
Most VAR interventions turn on interpretation, which is why the referee goes to the monitor and looks again. Factual situations do not work this way. There is nothing for the referee to weigh up, so there is nothing a second look could add. The VAR establishes what happened, informs the referee and the decision is changed. This is the reason that this kind of intervention is quick and rarely controversial.
Offside illustrates the difference well. When an attacker in an offside position touches the ball, there is nothing for the referee to weigh up. Either they were in an offside position or they were not, and either they touched the ball or they did not. The decision is corrected without an on-field review. When the attacker doesn't touch the ball, and the question is whether they interfered with an opponent, that is a judgement. The referee goes to the monitor to look again.