Video Assistant Referee (VAR)
An off-field official in football who reviews video replays to help the on-field referee correct clear and obvious errors in key match situations.
VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee.
Definition
The video assistant referee (VAR) is an official, supported by assistants and replay operators, who watches match footage from a video operation room and communicates with the on-field referee. VAR is designed to intervene only for clear and obvious errors, or serious missed incidents, in four categories: goals and the build-up to them, penalty decisions, direct red-card incidents, and cases of mistaken identity.
When a possible error is flagged, the referee may accept the VAR's advice or view the footage personally at a pitchside monitor before making the final decision, which remains the referee's own. The system aims to reduce match-changing mistakes without stopping play for marginal judgement calls. VAR is specific to football; other sports use their own review technologies, such as cricket's Decision Review System or tennis electronic line-calling.
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Officiating
- RefereeThe primary on-field official who enforces the rules, controls play, penalises fouls, awards restarts, and blows the whistle to start and stop a match.
- UmpireA match official who rules on lines, serves and dismissals in racket, bat-and-ball and net sports such as tennis, cricket and baseball — and, in racket sports, also keeps the running score.
- TimekeeperThe timekeeper is the official who runs a contest's clock — starting and stopping time, timing rounds, races and periods, and signalling when time expires.
- Line JudgeA boundary-line official who calls whether the ball or player is in or out and flags foot faults, working under the head referee across many sports.
- AdvantageIn many sports, officials let play continue after a foul when stopping would help the offender, so the fouled team keeps the advantage it has gained.
Rules
- Ball in play and the wallsWhat counts as part of the court in padel and how the walls change a rally — which surfaces the ball may use, the order it must use them in, and the returns the rules explicitly permit.
- Yellow and red cardsThe disciplinary cards a football referee shows to caution or send off a player for misconduct.
Sports communication
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- Content updated
- 2026-09-01
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