VAR to explain decisions in real time...on social media

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The Premier League hopes to reduce frustration with the VAR system with the launch of a social media account that will provide near real-time updates and explanations regarding officiating and operational decisions for every match.

Teams voted in favour of keeping VAR in June despite huge amounts of criticism about the technology-aided officiating system last season, with Wolverhampton Wanderers initiating a petition to scrap it.

The upcoming season will be the sixth season with VAR in the top flight, but the league has promised to improve the technology and how it will be used.

"In the absence of live VAR audio being broadcast, as it is not permitted in football, the Premier League Match Centre will be able to relay on social media near-live information from the VAR Hub during a game," the league said in a statement on Tuesday.

In addition to posting refereeing decisions, the X account, @PLMatchCentre, will also provide insights directly from the VAR hub and refereeing experts with the aim of bringing transparency, the league said.

Experts from PGMOL, the league’s officiating body, will also clarify the laws of the game and provide additional information and updates on the VAR decision-making processes when necessary.

The Premier League’s chief football officer Tony Scholes and referees chief Howard Webb have said they will put more replays on the big screens and make more use of social media in a bid to improve the experience for fans at the matches.

The league says the number of right decisions in matches was 96 per cent last season, whereas it was 82 per cent before VAR was introduced and claimed that VAR only made five incorrect interventions last season compared to 105 correct calls.

Semi-automated offsides, the kind that were deployed during the Euros this summer, will not be in place for the start of the new season, but they are likely to come into place in October. The technology itself was first used by Fifa in the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar.