Uefa refereeing chief issues VAR warning as he admits use of technology may have gone too far

UEFA’s referees’ chief has issued a stark warning that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system risks becoming overly "microscopic" in its analysis of subjective decisions, straying from its original purpose.

Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s director of refereeing, expressed a widespread concern that the technology, initially introduced to eliminate clear and obvious errors from football, is now frustrating supporters by effectively re-refereeing matches.

While refraining from singling out specific competitions, the Italian official articulated his belief that the core reason for VAR’s implementation has been forgotten.

"I believe we forgot the reason why VAR was introduced. We forgot a little bit. Everywhere," Rosetti stated.

"You remember, eight years ago, I came to London (to brief journalists). We discussed ‘what VAR stands for’. We spoke about clear mistakes. Why we spoke about clear and obvious mistakes.

“Technology works so well in factual decisions. For interpretations, subjective evaluation is more difficult. I believe that we need, at the end of the season in our meetings, to speak about this.

“We cannot go in this direction of microscopic VAR intervention. We love football like it is. When you are watching (a) situation with a super slow motion, you can find a lot of things."

The system recently drew criticism on social media following the disallowing of a third Manchester City goal against Liverpool, which also led to Dominik Szoboszlai’s sending off.

However, in that particular instance, VAR was compelled to intervene after Erling Haaland clearly fouled Szoboszlai following an initial challenge, necessitating a call back to the original infringement.

Interestingly, the Premier League currently records fewer on-field VAR reviews per game, averaging 0.15 this season, compared to the Champions League’s 0.36.

Rosetti also addressed the potential expansion of VAR’s remit, such as to include corner kick checks, asserting there was "zero contradiction" in his stance despite his concerns about over-analysis.

He emphasised a crucial principle: "What is crucial is one concept, we cannot delay the start of play. If something is in place to delay the result of play, I think (it) is not good for football."

Beyond VAR’s scope, Rosetti highlighted the urgent need for a unified interpretation of the handball law across Europe.

He confirmed plans to engage with referees’ chiefs continent-wide, including Howard Webb at Professional Game Match Officials, to achieve this consistency.

"We must speak only one technical language (on handball)," he insisted. "We were speaking a lot for sure before the season, we need to speak again (and have) only one uniform and consistent interpretation. We are working for this."

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