How VAR works — what it can review, what it cannot, and what changed in 2026
The video assistant referee may intervene in five kinds of decision and no others, only for a clear and obvious error, and never makes the final call. The 2026/27 Laws widened the list — including, for the first time, a wrongly given second yellow card.
Most arguments about VAR are really arguments about what it is for. The protocol in the Laws of the Game, written by The IFAB, is short and specific — and the 2026/27 edition of the Laws changed it.
The principle
The video assistant referee may assist the referee only in the event of a "clear and obvious error" or a "serious missed incident", and only in a fixed list of situations. The original decision "will not be changed unless the video review clearly shows that the decision was a 'clear and obvious error'."
That test is the whole design. VAR is not there to find the best decision, or to re-referee the match; it is there to catch the howler. A marginal call that could go either way is supposed to stay with the referee — which is exactly why so many VAR decisions feel unsatisfying to one side.
The five categories
Under the 2026/27 Laws, the referee may receive assistance "only in relation to five categories of match-changing decisions/incidents":
- Goal / no goal.
- Penalty / no penalty.
- Red card — and, new this season, including a clearly incorrect second caution.
- Mistaken identity — when the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player.
- A clearly incorrectly awarded corner kick, if the decision can be changed immediately and without delaying the restart. This one is a competition option: a competition chooses whether to use it.
Until 2025/26 there were four categories, and the third covered direct red cards only. A second yellow card — which sends a player off just as surely — could not be reviewed however wrong it was. That gap has now been closed, though only for a clearly incorrect second caution: VAR still cannot look at an ordinary first yellow card.
Everything else is outside its remit: free kicks in midfield, throw-ins, most corners, first yellow cards. When a commentator asks why VAR did not step in on one of those, the answer is that it is not allowed to.
Check versus review
Two words do a lot of work.
A check happens all the time, silently. The VAR automatically looks at the footage for every goal, every penalty decision, every direct red card incident and any case of mistaken identity. Play is usually not even stopped. No news is good news.
A review is what you see on television, and only the referee can initiate one — the VAR can only recommend it. It takes one of two forms:
- an on-field review, where the referee goes to the monitor at the side of the pitch. The protocol says this is appropriate for subjective decisions: the severity of a foul, whether a handball was an offence, whether an offside player interfered with play;
- a VAR-only review, where the referee accepts the video official's information without looking. This is usual for factual decisions: the position of an offside line, whether contact was inside or outside the area, whether the ball crossed a line.
Either way, the protocol is explicit: "The final decision is always taken by the referee." And there are no challenges — coaches and players cannot request a review.
What else changed in the last two seasons
From 1 July 2025:
- A goalkeeper who holds the ball for more than eight seconds concedes a corner kick; the referee gives a visual five-second countdown.
- Competitions may have the referee announce and explain a decision after a VAR review or a lengthy check.
- Guidelines were introduced for competitions that want only the captain to approach the referee.
In the 2026/27 Laws (Concacaf, for one, confirmed they took effect on 1 July 2026):
- The second-yellow and corner-kick reviews described above; mistaken identity now also covers a card shown for an offence committed by another player of either team.
- A five-second visual countdown for a delayed throw-in (the throw goes to the opponents) and a delayed goal kick (a corner kick to the opponents).
- A substituted player has ten seconds to leave the field.
- A player who receives treatment on the field must leave and stay off for one minute after play restarts.
- Competitions may give referees body cameras.
- The "only the captain" guidelines become a compulsory protocol for all competitions from 1 July 2027.
Why the same incident is judged differently in different leagues
The Laws are the same everywhere; how they are applied is not. Several of the items above are options, so one competition may review corners and announce decisions in the stadium while another does neither. How strictly "clear and obvious" is read is a matter for each competition's refereeing body. If you are comparing two incidents from two competitions, check first whether they were playing under the same options.
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