SCIENTISTS want to see a major change to VAR on the pitch after doing a huge study on the controversial tech’s influence.
The was first introduced to the Premier League in 2019 and has been the source of .
Scientists studied decisions from 1,520 Premier League gamesCredit: Getty
But experts suggest one key change should be made to how the tech is usedCredit: Getty
New research investigating video-assisted pitch-side review calls has revealed that refs are not influenced by crowd size and score, or whether the call was regarding the home versus away team.
Experts analysed decisions across 1,520 Premier League matches spanning four recent seasons, from 2021/22 – 2024/25.
Unsurprisingly, they found that referees overturned their original call 95 percent of the time.
But they did notice a small trend – maintain decisions were more prevalent when related to the home team.
Scientists from the University of who led the study say the number of times this happened was too small to figure out whether it was simply a coincidence.
However, they can’t rule out that the proximity of the pitch-side VAR monitor to home-team fans could result in unconscious bias.
As such, they have suggested a change to how it’s used.
The team believe it would be better if the monitor is moved away from the pitch to avoid any claims of influence, but the referee could still be recorded during the review process for all to see.
“Our study is the first to evidence the prevalence of decision making during the VAR protocol, whether that is overturning or maintaining decisions,” explained Daniel Walker who led the research, published in the journal PLOS One.
“We found that referees overturn their decisions 95% of the time when at the monitor.
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“This is in-part due to the reason they are being sent to the monitor is due to a potential error.
“Interestingly, maintain decisions were more prevalent when related to the home team, which could be due to the location of the pitch-side monitor often positioned in front of home supporters.
“Moving the monitor to inside the tunnel, away from supporters but still televised may be a sensible compromise.”
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