Which Teams Get VAR Decisions Reviewed?

The answer is every Premier League club. All 20 clubs get VAR decisions reviewed against them, and the process follows them through all 38 matches and every competition where the same league rules apply. The more useful question is not which team is being checked, but what the review means for a table built on fine margins.

Which teams get VAR decisions reviewed?

Every team. The Premier League is a 20-club competition, each club plays 38 matches, and the season totals 380 matches. There is no carve-out for the bottom three, no reduced process for a team already relegated, and no special route for a club in the middle of the table. A VAR review can happen in the 10th minute of a title match or the 90th minute of a match between two teams with nothing left to play for.

The review process starts with the referee on the pitch. The referee makes the initial decision. The VAR team checks the available footage and advises the referee if a clear error has been made. The referee can change the decision, or stick with the original call after reviewing the footage at the side of the pitch. No club has the power to request or block a review, and no club is exempt from one.

That is the part that often gets lost in the weekly argument about a single decision. When supporters ask which teams get VAR decisions reviewed, they are usually asking whether their club has been singled out. Over a 38-match season, every club is on both sides of the system. A club that benefits from a review in one match can lose points to a review two weeks later. The structure does not favour one name on the fixture list.

The mechanism

The league table is built directly on the decisions VAR is asked to check. The Premier League gives three points for a win and one for a draw. It separates clubs first by points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored, then by head-to-head record. Every one of those categories can be changed by a single reviewed incident. A goal awarded after review adds one to the goals scored column. A goal disallowed takes one away. In a tight relegation battle, that one number can separate the team that stays up from the team that goes down.

The bottom three are relegated to the Championship. Three clubs come up, two automatically and one via the play-off. The promoted clubs are not given a different VAR process when they arrive. They enter the same competition, with the same 20-team structure and the same 38-match format. This is why the question of which teams has a simple answer: the teams change every season, but the review system does not.

If teams are still level after the usual tiebreakers and the position decides the title, relegation, or European qualification, the league may use a play-off at a neutral venue. A VAR review can shape the league position long before that point, but it does not replace the tiebreaker order. It simply feeds into it.

History/evolution

The Premier League has not always had this exact shape. It was founded on 20 February 1992, when First Division clubs broke away to negotiate their own broadcast deals. The first season had 22 clubs. That changed for 1995/96, when the league reduced to 20 clubs, the format that has been in place since.

The VAR review system is a later addition to that history, but it did not change the basic mathematics. The same 20 clubs still play each other home and away. There are still 380 matches in a season. The review system is an extra layer on top of a structure that was designed before the technology existed. That matters because the league's rules were built around the need for clear tiebreakers. Three points for a win, one for a draw, goal difference, goals scored, head-to-head. The modern review system has to fit inside those rules, not replace them.

The movement between divisions also carries the review process forward. A club relegated from the Premier League goes down to the Championship and is replaced by a club coming the other way. The promoted club is not starting again with a different set of rules. It is joining the same 20-club league and the same approach to reviewing match-changing decisions.

Edge cases

The most interesting edge cases are not about which club has the badge on the shirt. They are about where the decision lands.

European qualification is the clearest example. The typical structure sends the top four to the Champions League league phase. Fifth place and the FA Cup winner go to the Europa League, and the League Cup winner goes to the Conference League play-off. If a VAR decision changes a result between two clubs chasing fifth, it can change the club that enters Europe. The decision also has a downstream effect: if a cup winner has already qualified through the league, the place passes down to the next club. A reviewed goal in May can therefore decide which club plays in Europe in August.

The squad rules add another edge case. The Premier League allows a 25-player squad list for players over 21, with at least eight homegrown players trained in England or Wales for three years before turning 21. Under-21 players do not count against the 25. None of those rules affect whether a VAR decision is reviewed. A team full of homegrown players and a team with the minimum eight are treated the same way when the referee is called to the screen.

Substitutions are a smaller edge case, but they matter because reviews take time. The league allows five substitutions per match, made in a maximum of three windows plus half-time. A review can interrupt the rhythm of a side about to make a change. It can also hand a manager extra time to think. The substitution rule creates a tactical layer around the review process, even though the review itself is neutral.

Final word

So the direct answer is the whole league. All 20 clubs get VAR decisions reviewed in the Premier League, across all 38 matches, inside the same set of rules. The question that follows is more valuable: what does the review change? It changes goals, points, tiebreakers, relegation places, European qualification, and sometimes the next season's squad planning. That is why discussions about VAR are never just about one team. They are about a competition where every club is playing the same game, and where one reviewed decision can shift the entire table.

Key takeaways

• Every Premier League club gets VAR decisions reviewed against them. No team is exempt.
• The 20 clubs play 38 matches each, making 380 matches per season under the same review process.
• VAR decisions feed directly into the league tiebreakers: points, goal difference, goals scored, then head-to-head.
• Relegation and promotion do not change the review system; the bottom three go down and three clubs come up into the same format.
• European qualification adds the biggest edge case, because a reviewed goal can decide whether a club finishes in the top four, fifth, or below.

FAQ

Which teams get VAR decisions reviewed?

All 20 Premier League clubs. The review process applies to every match in the league, regardless of where a team sits in the table.

Do promoted teams get VAR decisions reviewed in the Premier League?

Yes. Three clubs come up from the Championship, two automatically and one via the play-off, and they join the same 20-club schedule with the same review process.

Can a VAR decision change a team's league position?

Yes. The league ranks teams by points, then goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head. An awarded or disallowed goal can change any of those numbers.

Does VAR review decisions in every match?

Every Premier League match sits under the same review framework, but not every incident triggers a review. The review process is used when the on-field decision may have been a clear error.