his weekend top referees from the English Premier League will meet to discuss how VAR will be used in the upcoming 2019/2020 freetips.com reports today.

The league are keen for referees to use the technology in the upcoming season, but they want them to use it sparingly. The addition of the review area so that referees can review incidents on the pitch is wanted by the league. The hope is that it would prevent delays from occurring, such as those that happened during the Women’s World Cup.

There is particular hope that the new rule about goalkeepers coming off the line during penalty kicks will be decided by the on-field referees in most cases. However, the league is conscious that the rules of the international game must be followed in all cases. Pierluigi Collina, the chief referee for FIFA, said the following “What is written in the laws of the game has to be enforced in every (one) of the countries belonging to Fifa, and in every (one) of the competitions arranged by the member association of Fifa.”

Penalties at Women’s World Cup

Several penalties have had to be retaken at the Women’s World Cup after VAR had ruled that the goalkeeper didn’t have at least one foot on the goal line when the penalty kick was taken. The media initially reported the premiership would not use the technology to rule on the penalty kicks, however it has further been revealed that actually, their stance is a lot more nuanced than that, and that they want referees to make the decision in most cases, but that the technology should be used if there are problems.

The technology will be discussed this weekend at an annual conference that is taking place in London as part of the ongoing training and education of the league’s professional referees.

The new rule on penalties was introduced shortly before the start of the Women’s World Cup to deal with encroachment of goalkeepers during the taking of penalties and the rule states that the goalkeeper must have one foot on the line at the time of the kick, or if they are jumping then they must have one foot in line with the goal line. Scotland was controversially knocked out the championship as a result of this rule, after a penalty in stoppage time that was initially saved by goalkeeper Lee Alexander, was ruled to have been encroached upon, and a re-kick was ordered. The retake was scored, and this caused Scotland to lose the match. France and Italy have also benefited from similar situations.

VAR in Premier League

All twenty premiership grounds are now equipped with the technology which allows decisions to be reviewed by the VAR hub which is in London. They are saying that VAR will only be used to correct clear and obvious errors, and it will change the way that football is viewed, as viewers at home will be able to see what the VAR referees are reviewing. Fans in the stand will be informed of when a decision has gone to VAR.