What Exactly Is Involved In A VAR Check?

In the last decade, there have been a number of significant changes to the way professional football operates at the highest level. From the Laws of the Game changing to allow defenders to enter their own penalty area to receive the ball from a goal kick, to the banning of players who aren't captains approaching the referee to appeal decisions, to a more recent clampdown on time-wasting from goalkeepers, these changes have been varied.

However, by far the most impactful and controversial of the recent shifts in football governance and officiating has been the widespread implementation of VAR systems across the world's top leagues.

While it used to be that the on-field referee's decision was final, nowadays every move made by the ref is scrutinised by a team of officials watching on a video monitor, miles away from the ground.

While this has improved the number of accurate decisions being made in professional football matches, it has also created a high level of confusion at times, and on many occasions, it has slowed down and disrupted the fan experience of watching football, causing heavy criticism from certain supporters.

In this article, we won't be exploring the pros and cons of VAR (we've already dissected whether or not VAR improves soccer in plenty of detail); instead, we'll be looking at exactly what happens when video officials intervene and decide whether they should reverse or uphold a decision made by the on-field team of officials.

Before we dive into precisely what is involved in a VAR check, we're going to flesh out the basics of how this system operates. 

What Does VAR Stand For?

VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee, referring to a qualified match official who is stationed in a remote location and tasked with keeping overview of the game and intervening when necessary.

Typicallly, the appointed Video Assistant Referee will be supported by three Assistant VARs who are in the same room and are able to contribute to the decision-making process.

The VAR team has access to a variety of different replays and angles, shown on video monitors in real time and played back in various speeds in order to show incidents as clearly as possible. The ultimate goal of the VAR process is for the video referees to spot examples of clear and obvious errors being made by the on-field referee and their assistants.

When they feel a clear mistake has been made, their job is to intervene to overturn a decision. However, it's important to note that in most football competitions, VARs can only intervene during key match moments, such as yellow cards and red cards, clear goalscoring opportunities, offside decisions, penalty kicks, and examples of misconduct.

When Was VAR Introduced?

VAR was introduced to the English Premier League at the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season. There was plenty of backlash to the new system at this point, and criticism from some quarters has continued in the years since.

But even back in 2019/20 when there were clear teething problems for VAR in English football, some European nations and competitions had already had similar video-based officiating systems in place for years.

For example, VAR was trialled during a friendly international match between France and Italy in 2016, and in the same year, a Dutch KNVB Cup tie between Ajax and Willem II featured the technology in operation.

Video Assistant Referee systems were then brought into the Bundesliga and Serie A for the 2017/18 campaign, while Ligue 1 and La Liga introduced VAR the following season. Across the world, this shift in the game has been replicated, and nowadays, most fans accept that VAR is an ordinary part of the game, even if they have their issues with it.

How Long Does A Video Assistant Referee Check Take?

Part of the reason some fans dislike VAR is because of the length of time it can sometimes take for the decisions to be checked. While checks regularly take place while the ball is still in play, limiting the impact on footballing action, disruptions in play also take place when VAR officials instruct the on-pitch ref to revise their decision or to take a look at the monitor next to the field of play.

This means there's a lot of variety when it comes to the length of VAR checks. Sometimes the checks are over in a few seconds, whereas on other occasions, the video nitpicking can go on for several minutes.

According to the Premier League, the average delay to a game for a single VAR check in the 2023/24 season was 64 seconds. Frustratingly, this average was up by 24 seconds compared to 2022/23 (when checks took approximately 40 seconds). So what exactly are officials doing during this period of time?

What Exactly Is Involved In A VAR Check?

In order to maintain the pace and intensity of matches, there's a pretty high bar when it comes to VAR intervention, with only the most important decisions subject to extra video scrutiny. That doesn't just mean a goal-saving handball in the penalty area or a red card based on a case of mistaken identity; it also means all offside decisions, penalty awards and goals are subject to checks from VAR.

When a check begins, the Video Assistant Referee and their officials (all of whom are qualified officials) view a series of different angles showing the incident in question on video monitors in front of them. They'll give instructions to a video replay operator (who typically isn't a qualified official) tasked with bringing up different displays and making it as clear as possible what happened on the pitch.

According to the Premier League's official guidelines for the implementation of VAR, it's the job of the video officials to notify the referee via their headset when they notice that a "clear and obvious error" has been made in one of the four match-changing situations (goal, offside, red card, mistake identity). However, referees can also get in touch with the VAR team directly when they think that a decision should be reviewed.

The reason there can sometimes be long delays before a final decision is reached is that when a VAR check takes place, the video officials must instruct the referee to pause the restart of play at the next stoppage in the match.

The VAR team can intervene up until the game restarts, but as soon as the game begins again, they cannot overturn the original decision made. While the game is paused, the referee will explain why they made their original decision, and the VAR will advise whether they think it was a mistake or not, based on what they've seen via video replays.

When a big decision needs to be made, the Video Assistant Referee will typically instruct the on-field referee to go over to a pitch-side monitor and watch a replay of the incident themselves in order to double-check whether they made the right decision.

This can involve different angles and slow-motion replays to identify the point of contact in a challenge or foul. The final decision is ultimately up to the on-field ref, but the implication when they go over to the monitor is that they have made a clear and obvious error, and the decision is likely to be overturned.

The Future Of Officiating in the Premier League

The exact process involved in a VAR check may change in the future; after all, this is still a relatively new part of the game and technology is always evolving.

One key recent change in the way games are officiated is the introduction of semi-automated offside technology, which according to the Premier League, came into practice in April 2025 (on Gameweek 32 to be precise). This introduction was delayed, with the EPL initially hoping to introduce the new offside tech back in Autumn 2024.

Semi-automated offside technology (abbreviated to SAOT) was introduced following non-live testing in the Premier League and live operation in the FA Cup over the course of the 2024/25 season, with officials finally believing the system is ready to function at the top level.

Essentially, what this means is that there will be "more efficient placement of the virtual offside line, based on optical player tracking, and produce virtual graphics", with the Premier League hoping this will "ensure an enhanced in-stadium and broadcast experience for supporters".

It's important to note that this change isn't going to improve the accuracy of offside decisions (the Premier League claims that in 2024/25, final offside calls have been adjudged to be 100 per cent correct). Instead, the new system is designed to boost the speed, efficiency, and consistency of the offside review process.

When it comes down to a close call (for instance in Crystal Palace's chalked-off second goal in the FA Cup final against Manchester City), SAOT is now being implemented thanks to new cameras that track the exact movement of the ball as well as up to 10,000 surface "mesh" data points per player. Officials hope this semi-automated tech will make offside decisions smarter and more effective in the future.

If you'd like to find out more about how technology continues to impact football at the highest level, check out our in-depth guide to the rise of data pioneers Jamestown Analytics.