- Question
Should VAR be used in football?
The video assistant referee (VAR) has proven highly controversial since its introduction in FIFA's Laws of the Game in 2018, after years of calls for video to be used. Has it helped make football fairer or is it destroying the spectacle of the beautiful game?
Yes. VAR is a net positive to the game
This position holds that VAR is a net positive for football and should continue. It argues that, like the successful goal-line technology before it, video review makes the game fairer — correcting referees' mistakes, reducing cheating, and even encouraging a more attacking game.
No. VAR has made football worse
This position holds that VAR has made football worse and should be scrapped. It argues that reviews take too long and rob fans of celebrating goals, that human error is part of the game, that football is too free-flowing for it, and that VAR drains the passion from the sport.
Yes, but something needs to change
This position holds that VAR should be used in football, but that something needs to change. It argues that VAR in its current form is failing — perhaps even deliberately sabotaged in England — but that, as in other sports, it could work if reformed to allow the 'benefit of the doubt'.