How does VAR work in football?

What can be reviewed:

• Goal or no goal: an attacking offence in the build-up (foul, handball, offside), the ball out of play, or whether the ball crossed the line.
• Penalty or no penalty: wrongly given or wrongly missed; inside or outside the area; an attacking offence before it.
• Red cards: denying a goal-scoring opportunity, serious foul play, violent conduct, biting, spitting, abusive actions, and since 2026/27 a red that came from a second yellow given in plain error.
• Mistaken identity: the wrong player shown a yellow or red card.
• As a competition option from 2026/27: a wrongly awarded corner kick, if it can be changed at once without delay.

How it runs:

• The referee must always make a decision first, as if there were no VAR.
• The VAR checks silently. Only if there may be a clear and obvious error does the VAR tell the referee.
• The referee then either accepts the VAR's information on a matter of fact (such as an offside position) or goes to the monitor for an on-field review of a matter of judgment (such as how bad a foul was).
• There is no time limit: accuracy comes before speed.
• Once play has restarted, only mistaken identity and serious off-the-ball offences can still be reviewed.
• Players and coaches cannot ask for a review. Making the TV signal too much or entering the review area is a yellow card; entering the video room is a red.

Other technology:

• Goal-line technology tells the referee within a second whether the ball crossed the goal line.
• Semi-automated offside technology sends offside position data to the VAR.

VAR is meant to correct match-changing mistakes without re-refereeing the game. That is why the test is "clear and obvious error", not "would another referee have decided differently".