VAR across Europe is a mess, confesses Aleksander Ceferin
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has admitted that VAR in the Premier League and around England has turned into a massive problem. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was introduced at the start of this season in England’s top-tier but has angered fans and caused chaos all across the country.
With refereeing decisions playing a major part in football, the UEFA and FIFA with the help of football federations around Europe decided to implement VAR. A video assistant referee to help the on-field referees make their decisions which were implemented across Europe after its success at the 2018 World Cup. That was introduced into the Premier League this season but so far it has done nothing but anger fans and cause chaos.
The problem isn’t contained to just England however, with issues across Europe causing fans to boycott games. It’s why UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin went on to admit that he doesn’t like VAR and that he believes the technology needs to be changed and adapted once again. Ceferin further admitted that UEFA competitions do not have too many interventions and the rest of Europe needs to follow their methods to become even more successful.
"It is a mess. I don’t think the tolerance or one or two centimeters for offside, for example, is enough. We will propose a change to IFAB. And also for our referees. We don’t have many interventions in UEFA competitions because our chief refereeing officer, Roberto Rosetti, said to the VAR’: It has to be a clear and obvious mistake,” he told the Mirror.
“But nowadays it’s a different pressure. If you are the referee on the pitch, even though you have 70,000 or 80,000 people shouting it is you that has to decide - not a person hidden somewhere in London, Berlin or somewhere else. I’m not a fan. I was very sceptical, and I can say that I don’t like the outcome. Unfortunately, there’s no way back anymore,” Ceferin added.