UEFA refereeing chief warns VAR is too “microscopic” and urges a return to intervening only for clear, factual errors. For bettors: expect fewer VAR-driven overturns and more on-field decisions to stand, boosting value in pre-match lines and live markets for penalties, bookings and match totals.
UEFA referee boss: VAR has strayed from its original purpose
Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s managing director for refereeing, has warned that video assistant refereeing is becoming excessively detailed and is drifting away from its intended role of correcting only clear, factual errors. He argued that VAR should focus on objective decisions rather than minute, subjective incidents that emerge under super-slow-motion review.
Microscopic intervention and the moviola effect
Rosetti criticised the growing reliance on ultra-slow replays to identify technical infractions that may have been minor in real time, a phenomenon he likened to the old film-editing “moviola.” He said this tendency can uncover trivial details that distort how incidents are judged and push the game towards over-policing.
Data shows variation across competitions
The Premier League records an on-field review rate of 0.15 per match (0.27 including factual reviews), the lowest in Europe, while the Champions League’s overall intervention rate sits around 0.47. Those figures underline how different competitions apply VAR thresholds differently, fueling debate over consistency and proportionality.
Media pressure and the appetite for intervention
Rosetti also highlighted how media narratives have helped drive calls for more VAR involvement — questions about why the technology did or didn’t intervene have pushed officials toward greater intervention. He called for renewed discussions at the end of the season to clarify VAR’s scope and to resist the trend toward ever-more intrusive reviews.
Potential law changes and practical implications
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has backed proposals to allow VAR intervention for corner decisions and for wrongly awarded second yellow cards. Any expansion of VAR remit would reshape match outcomes and could increase the number of factual reviews, even as calls grow for clearer intervention thresholds.
What this means for teams and punters
For coaches and players, a pullback from microscopic VAR use would place more emphasis on on-field refereeing and real-time management.
For bettors, the likely consequence is fewer overturned decisions and greater variance in subjective calls — consider adjusting strategies around live markets (penalties, bookings and match totals) and seeking value in pre-match lines where VAR overreach had previously skewed outcomes.
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Roberto Rosetti singled out the overuse of slow-motion replays and added: ‘We need to speak about this at the end of the season’
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