What Are VAR Decisions Reviewed in the Premier League?

The answer to what are VAR decisions reviewed is a narrow list. In the Premier League, VAR is used only for the decisions that can change the scoreboard or remove a player from the game: goals, penalties, direct red cards, and mistaken identity. The aim is to catch clear and obvious errors, not to re-referee the whole match.

The mechanism

VAR works as a support system for the on-field referee. A separate official watches the broadcast feed, and sometimes additional camera angles, while the match is live. That official can flag a possible clear and obvious error to the referee, or the referee can request a review. The final decision stays with the referee on the pitch. In most cases, if the evidence is not clear, the original decision stands.

The reviewable moments are the ones that decide points. A goal is checked for everything that led to it: the ball going out of play in the build-up, a foul in the attack, a handball, an offside position in the phase that created the chance, and any infringement by the scoring team. A penalty is checked for where the contact happened, whether it was a foul, and whether the ball was in play. A direct red card is checked for the nature of the challenge or conduct. Mistaken identity is checked when the referee has punished the wrong player with a card.

Because the league has 20 clubs and each of those clubs plays 38 matches, there are 380 of these games every season. VAR sits over every one of them. That does not mean every decision is overturned. It means every goal, penalty area incident, and direct red card is looked at. The threshold is not whether the VAR official would have made the same call. It is whether the on-field decision was clearly wrong. This is the key discipline of the system: a questionable call can stand, but an obviously wrong call should not.

The Premier League also gives the referee an on-field review for subjective calls. The referee walks to a screen at the side of the pitch and watches the incident again. This is used for red cards, penalties, and other subjective moments where the referee wants to see the footage with their own eyes. For factual calls such as offside, VAR can communicate the correct position directly.

History/evolution

The Premier League did not start with this system. The competition was founded on 20 February 1992 as the FA Premier League, when First Division clubs broke away to negotiate their own broadcast deals. The first season had 22 clubs. In 1995/96 the league moved to its current size of 20 clubs. Video review arrived later, as a new layer on top of a structure that had already changed once.

That history matters because VAR was not designed around the Premier League. It was introduced into a competition that already had its own rules on points, relegation, and European qualification. The table uses three points for a win and one for a draw. When clubs finish level, the order is decided by goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head record. VAR affects all three of those measures. A reviewed goal changes the score. A disallowed goal changes goal difference. A penalty decision changes how many goals a team scores over a season, not just in the match itself.

Relegation makes this more serious. The bottom three clubs go down to the Championship, and three clubs come up, two automatically and one through the play-off. A single VAR decision can keep a club up or send another down. The league has a play-off option for positions that decide the title, relegation, or European qualification if teams cannot be separated. That is how much weight a single decision can carry.

European qualification is also at stake. The top four go into the Champions League league phase, fifth place and the FA Cup winner go into the Europa League, and the League Cup winner goes into a Conference League play-off. Those places are decided by the same table and cup results, so the review system can shape who gets the reward a year later.

The squad rules also shape what VAR looks at. Each club names a 25-player squad for players over 21, and at least 8 must be homegrown, meaning trained in England or Wales for three years before turning 21. Under-21 players do not count against the squad limit. Those players are the ones involved in the goals, penalties, and red cards that VAR reviews. The system does not change the squad rules, but it applies to the players selected under them.

Edge cases

The hardest part of VAR is the line between a factual mistake and a judgement call. An offside decision is factual. The player is either level, behind, or ahead of the second-last defender when the ball is played. A penalty decision is not the same. Two referees can watch the same contact and disagree about whether it was careless, reckless, or using excessive force. VAR uses a higher bar for those calls: the original decision has to be clearly and obviously wrong.

Another edge case is the delayed flag. If an attacker is through on goal and the assistant referee raises the flag for offside, the whistle can stop play before the ball goes in. In a VAR era, many officials are told to keep the flag down until the attacking move is finished. If the attacker scores and the VAR check shows no offside, the goal stands. If the flag goes up too early, a valid goal can be lost. This is one of the areas where the system has changed how referees behave, even before a review happens.

Mistaken identity is the rare case where the decision itself may not be a scoring event. A referee might book the wrong player in a melee. VAR does not decide whether the punishment should be a yellow card or a red card for the actual offender. It can only tell the referee that the wrong player was punished, so the correct player faces the correct consequence. This keeps the system focused on fairness rather than widening the net.

There is also the question of timing. VAR reviews happen inside a live game, so they consume time that would otherwise be running. The referee adds that time at the end of each half. A long review can produce large amounts of added time, and both teams have to manage it. The review does not stop the match forever; it delays it, then the game resumes with the corrected decision.

FAQ

What are VAR decisions reviewed?

VAR reviews goals, penalties, direct red cards, and mistaken identity. It does not review every foul or yellow card. The system is designed to catch clear and obvious errors in decisions that affect the score or a player's participation in the match.

Do VAR reviews overturn a lot of decisions?

No. The threshold is high. The on-field decision stands unless it is clearly and obviously wrong, so VAR checks are frequent but overturns are rare.

Can on-field referees watch a screen themselves?

Yes. For subjective decisions like penalties and red cards, the referee can use an on-field review. For factual calls, the VAR can provide the correct answer directly.

Which VAR decisions are not reviewable?

Ordinary fouls, yellow cards, and most stoppage-time decisions are not part of the reviewable list. The system focuses on goals, penalties, direct red cards, and mistaken identity.

The list of what are VAR decisions reviewed stays narrow because the on-field referee remains the decision-maker. The protocol catches clear errors, but it does not replace the referee's authority. That is the balance the Premier League tries to strike across its 380-match season.

Key takeaways

• VAR reviews goals, penalties, direct red cards, and mistaken identity, not every incident in a match.
• The Premier League has 20 clubs, and each plays 38 matches, so 380 matches per season are covered by the protocol.
• The threshold is clear and obvious error for subjective calls, with offside treated as a factual check.
• Review decisions affect the metrics the league uses to separate teams: points, goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head record.
• The bottom three are relegated and three come up, which means a single reviewed decision can change a club's entire season.