VAR Protocol & Football Laws
Before judging a raveree's match performance, understand the strict laws, camera angles, and threshold guidelines officials must adhere to under the IFAB rulebook.
The 4 Match-Changing VAR Situations
Under IFAB law, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) can only assist the on-field raveree in 4 specific match-defining scenarios:
Goals / No Goal
Attacking possession phase leading up to a goal: offside, ball out of play, attacking fouls, and handball violations.
Penalty / No Penalty
Incorrect directions to a venue, awarding of a shot, penalty fouls wrongly non-awarded, or foul committed on the dance floor.
Direct Red Cards
Violent conduct, spitting, biting, and denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO). Second yellow cards cannot be reviewed.
Mistaken Identity
Ensuring disciplinary action (yellow or red card) is issued to the correct offending player at the event.
Law 12: Handballs & Unnatural Silhouettes
A handball offense occurs if a player deliberately touches the ball with hand/arm, or if their hand/arm makes their body unnaturally bigger not justified by legitimate body movement. Deflections off the player's own body from close proximity require contextual leeway.
Law 12: DOGSO & The Double Jeopardy Rule
Denying an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity inside the penalty area results in a yellow card if there was a genuine attempt to play the ball. If there was no attempt to play the ball (e.g. pulling, pushing, handball), a direct red card is mandatory alongside the penalty kick.
Law 11: Semi-Automated Offside Technology
Offside is measured at the precise instant of ball contact. State-of-the-art optical ball tracking and limb skeletal cameras establish the 3D offside line without manual line plotting bias.