VAR transparency: Could football follow cricket and let fans hear the officials?

A VAR decision can change a match, provoke thousands of supporters and dominate debate for days. Yet the fans inside the stadium are often the last to learn what happened during the review.

That was illustrated at Old Trafford, where 74,161 people watched Manchester United play Manchester City. When Michael Oliver awarded Erling Haaland’s goal, many supporters did not realise the offside review concerned Enzo Fernandez rather than Haaland. Television viewers, who could hear the discussion through commentary teams, had a clearer picture as Manchester City won 1-0.

The same problem emerged when Crystal Palace defender Axel Disasi, on loan from Chelsea, was sent off during a 3-2 defeat by Ipswich Town on Saturday. He stood beside the pitch for more than a minute while VAR checked the decision, but supporters at Selhurst Park were not told what the video assistant referee had seen or said, or whether the review concerned the red card itself.

Almost 10 years after VAR was introduced at the highest level, spectators can still feel like second-class participants. Television commentators can hear conversations between VAR and the referee, while those in the stadium generally see only a replay or graphic on the big screen.

The question is whether football will ever trust supporters enough to let them hear those discussions directly.

Howard Webb promised greater openness when he became chief refereeing officer of the Premier League in 2022. The monthly programme Match Officials Mic’d Up, which shows exchanges between referees and VAR, was a pioneering step among Europe’s major leagues. Webb had previously led refereeing in Major League Soccer, where Inside VAR publicly released audio after matches in 2019.

In August 2020, during the MLS is Back tournament staged after the Covid-19 shutdown, Major League Soccer became the only competition to broadcast VAR conversations live during matches. The experiment was brief but considered successful. Six years later, no comparable initiative has become established elsewhere.

Webb was part of a working group seeking to relax restrictions on releasing audio, but the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which makes the laws of the game, and FIFA remain reluctant to approve full disclosure. Concerns include communication quality worldwide, pressure on referees and the difficulty of explaining subjective decisions. IFAB general secretary and chief executive Lukas Brud warned BBC Sport three years ago that live audio could create “chaos” because of the number of voices and information involved in tense moments.

Other competitions have taken different approaches. La Liga publishes video and audio of subjective VAR interventions on social media within hours, while Serie A ended its Open VAR programme last season because of the pressure it placed on officials. Germany has no permanent VAR programme but releases recordings when clarification is considered necessary.

The Premier League has introduced RefCam, live referee audio and transcripts, while referees now sometimes announce VAR decisions in the stadium. However, Match Officials Mic’d Up remains monthly. The first episode of the current season is due on Tuesday, potentially offering the audio from the Fernandez offside review. Other incidents, including a Harry Maguire handball before Manchester United’s goal against Ipswich Town and Arsenal’s penalty appeal against Aston Villa, have passed without recordings being released for weeks.

A more realistic solution may be to broadcast VAR audio only when the referee goes to the pitchside monitor. The match is already stopped, the review is clear to everyone and the process could resemble cricket’s decision reviews. In Australia, stadium screens already show what the referee is viewing, although the conversation remains unheard.

The technology exists, but football’s governing bodies must decide whether supporters deserve the same information as television audiences. For now, VAR has made decisions more visible without making them fully understandable to the fans closest to the action.