VAR in the Premier League: how has it worked in Germany?

Members of all 20 Premier League clubs "agreed in principle" on Thursday to the introduction of video assistant referees (VAR) in England's top division, and a formal request to use the system will now be made to the International Football Association Board and FIFA. 

In Germany, VAR was introduced in the Bundesliga at the start of 2017/18 season and has been a subject of intense discussion and sometimes controversy on almost every match day since, polarizing players, coaches, officials and fans alike.

VAR: A learning curve

In the first half of last season, video assistant referees based in the western city of Cologne checked a total of 1,041 incidents – an average of 6.8 background checks per Bundesliga game. Of those checks, 50 resulted in actual interventions – an average of 0.33 per game.

And of those interventions, 48 resulted in a correction of a referee's on-field decision whereas two confirmed the referee's decision. According to the German Football League (DFL), 11 of those interventions were mistakes. On average, reviews lasted for 61 seconds.

In the second half of the season, all of those figures decreased. The second round of games saw 829 background checks, 38 interventions, 27 corrections and 11 decision confirmations. According to the DFL, there were no incorrect decisions made by VAR – although there were three incidences were Cologne failed to intervene when it should have.

On average, reviews in the second half of the season lasted less than a minute (53 seconds).

In summer, VAR was also used at the World Cup for the first time. Public opinion in Germany suggested that the system worked a lot better in Russia, a welcome change from the perceived chaos and confusion of everyday life in the Bundesliga (see controversies below).

But figures from FIFA suggest the opposite. At the World Cup, there were an average of seven background checks and 0.31 interventions per game, lasting an average of 80 seconds – all worse than the second half of the Bundesliga season.

Controversies

The introduction of VAR has been a learning process for all involved and the figures suggest that the implementation of the system has improved after initial teething problems. And there were certainly problems.

On the opening weekend of last season, VAR was unable to be implemented fully in all games while the calibrated lines used to measure offside decisions remained out of action all season.

In mid-September, it was then revealed that video assistant referees were given secret instructions to change the way they use video replays in their decision making. Instead of intervening only in cases of "a clearly incorrect decision" in four specific areas (goals, penalties, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity), VARs were instructed to contact the referee on the field whenever they thought he or she might have got something wrong, even if they weren't sure.

- Read more: VAR, secret instructions and gagging orders: the Bundesliga's refereeing controversy

'The peak of absurdity'

On the pitch, while VAR statistically improved, it wasn't the sensible, correct decisions which made headlines – but rather some unforgettable moments of controversy.

At half-time in a match between Mainz and Freiburg, many of the players had already headed back down the tunnel when the video assistant awarded a penalty to Mainz for a handball spotted in the final action of the first half. Amid utter confusion, the players were called back onto the field, where the half-time sprinklers had already been turned on.

"The peak of absurdity has been reached," wrote Die Zeit, but Pablo De Blasis converted the penalty in the seventh minute of stoppage time and Mainz went on to win 2-0, leaving Freiburg furious (see fans below).

It wasn't the first time that De Blasis and Mainz had been involved in controversy after being awarded a penalty against Cologne despite a clear dive by the Argentinian forward. "He's dived for that," said ex-referee Markus Merk on Sky television. "That was a joke of a penalty," said German legend Lothar Matthäus. "What have the video refs got against us!?" wondered Cologne tabloid express; the hapless Billy Goats found themselves on the end of a few tough decisions.

'You're destroying our game!'

On paper however, the referees were getting better. But many match-going fans and organized fan groups have been staunch opponents of VAR from the start, criticizing the German Football League (DFL) and the German Football Association (DFB) of irreparably damaging their stadium experience and robbing the game of emotion.

While fans watching on television have the benefit of high-definition replays from multiple angles, supporters who have dedicated time and money to supporting their team inside the stadium have often been left in the dark for minutes on end.

Chants of "You're destroying our game!" are heard without fail every time a VAR review takes place, often from both sets of fans, including those whose team stands to benefit from the decision.

- Opinion: The decision is irrelevant; VAR sucks the emotion out of football

'Please stay in your seats or you may miss a goal!'

When Stuttgart were awarded an injury-time penalty at home to Bayern Munich last season, a chance to equalize and rescue an unlikely point against the champions, the Stuttgart ultras unfurled a large banner behind the goal reading: "Abolish VAR!" In the 95th minute, Chadrac Akolo missed.

At Freiburg's first home game after the controversial penalty decision away at Mainz, supporters behind the goal held up a banner at half-time advising fellow fans: "Please stay in your seats at half-time or you may miss a goal!"

Similar banners were seen throughout the season on an almost weekly basis, and the protests have continued this year. When Schalke traveled to Düsseldorf, the visiting fans displayed a huge banner reading: "Play football, don't talk about it!" And when Nuremberg hosted Stuttgart last week, home fans displayed the message: "VAR kills goal celebrations."

While the accuracy, consistency and speed of VAR decisions has improved in Germany, the system is still some way from being accepted by match-going supporters.