UEFA sets clearer VAR limits ahead of 2026-27 season

UEFA is tightening the way video assistant referees are expected to operate through a new platform designed to show when and how VAR should intervene.

Called Clear Line, the platform is already in use and brings together the cases, incidents, procedures and criteria intended to explain how VAR technology should be applied. The system has been created as a reference point for anyone seeking to understand decisions that have frequently prompted debate.

From the 2026-27 season, UEFA will follow the guide strictly. Its aim is to make VAR less intrusive and more accurate by concentrating on clear and obvious errors rather than marginal or minor mistakes.

“The question everyone asks is: when should the video assistant referee intervene? This is the main subject. Nobody knows when they should do it,” said Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s head of refereeing.

Rosetti said the guide was based on the organisation’s experience since VAR was introduced, as well as its review of a wide range of incidents.

“We relied on our experience of around eight years, on the different VAR situations and on more than 100 clear clips, and we created Clear Line,” he said.

“It is a document in which we explain when and how the video assistant referee should intervene, and it has been prepared so that everyone can have a clear line. It is not only for referees, but for football. It is for players, coaches, fans and journalists too.”

Rosetti believes it was necessary to establish a structured foundation capable of organising the use of VAR and setting out its principles in a consistent way.

Velasco Carballo, who also holds a role at UEFA, said the platform had been designed for the wider football community rather than solely for officials.

“This is not a website for referees, and it is not a website designed for refereeing organisations,” he said.

“This is a website created to explain our basic principles to anyone. It is the space we would like people to go to after a Champions League match, to compare incidents with the clips in the library.”

He added: “It is a website for clubs, players and fans. In some texts, expressions can perhaps be very colloquial, and not refereeing terminology, but we did that intentionally.”

The Clear Line platform therefore offers a public explanation of UEFA’s approach, including examples intended to help users compare decisions with a library of video clips. Its introduction represents a significant step in UEFA’s effort to establish a more defined framework for the technology.

The stricter application from 2026-27 is expected to reinforce the original purpose of VAR: correcting major, clearly identifiable mistakes while avoiding intervention in incidents involving only fine distinctions or small errors.