How VAR Works in Soccer: The Five Reviewable Decisions and the "Clear and Obvious" Test

The video assistant referee (VAR) is a match official who watches replays and may help the referee in only five kinds of decision, and only when the original call was a "clear and obvious error" or something serious was missed. In soccer (association football), those five are goal or no goal, penalty or no penalty, red cards, mistaken identity, and — where a competition opts in — a wrongly awarded corner kick. The VAR checks; the referee decides. Nothing is reviewed simply because it was close.

This is the system as set out in the IFAB's VAR protocol and Laws 5 and 6 of the 2026/27 Laws of the Game, in force since 1 July 2026. That edition added two reviewable situations and an optional third, which is why older explanations still talk about four categories.

From incident to final decision

A VAR intervention follows the same sequence every time.

1. The referee decides first. The referee and other officials must make a decision — including any card — as if there were no VAR. "No decision" is not allowed; letting play continue counts as a decision and can be reviewed.
2. The VAR checks. The VAR, working in the video operation room with one or more assistant VARs and replay operators, automatically checks every goal, penalty, direct red card and mistaken-identity situation. Most checks are silent. If the restart has to wait, the referee holds a finger to the earpiece and extends the other arm.
3. A recommendation. If the check suggests a probable clear and obvious error or serious missed incident, the VAR tells the referee. Only the referee can start a review; the VAR can only recommend one.
4. The review. If play is still going, the referee stops it when the ball is in a neutral situation and shows the "TV signal". The review then takes one of two forms (below).
5. The final decision. The referee shows the TV signal again and gives the decision, takes or cancels any disciplinary action, and restarts play under the Laws. Since 2025/26, competitions may also have the referee publicly announce the decision after a review or a lengthy check.

There is no time limit. The protocol puts it plainly: "accuracy is more important than speed".

On-field review or VAR-only review?

The split is the protocol's own guidance: on-field reviews suit subjective decisions, VAR-only reviews usually suit factual ones, though an on-field review can be used for a factual decision when it helps.

The five reviewable categories

1. Goal or no goal — including an attacking offence in the build-up (handball, foul, offside), the ball having gone out of play first, and offences or encroachment at a penalty kick that rebounds into play.
2. Penalty or no penalty — including attacking offences in the build-up, the ball out of play beforehand, whether the offence was inside or outside the penalty area, and penalties wrongly given or wrongly missed.
3. Red cards — denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, serious foul play, violent conduct, biting or spitting, offensive or abusive actions, and, new for 2026/27, a red card produced by a clearly incorrect second caution.
4. Mistaken identity — when a yellow or red card goes to the wrong player, of either team since 2026/27. Only the identity is reviewed, not whether there was an offence.
5. A clearly incorrectly awarded corner kick — new for 2026/27 and a competition option. It is the one exception to the protocol's principles, and only if the decision can be changed immediately without delaying the restart; a corner taken quickly stands.

The IFAB's 2026/27 change log records the second-caution and mistaken-identity additions as "infrequent but potentially match-changing errors".

What "clear and obvious" means in practice

The protocol's third principle is the heart of VAR: the original decision "will not be changed unless the video review clearly shows" a clear and obvious error. That is a deliberately high bar. A challenge that one replay makes look worse and another makes look fine has not produced a clear and obvious error; a player who was plainly offside when the ball was played, or a foul plainly outside the area, has.

For goals, penalties and red cards for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, the VAR may look back at the attacking phase that led to the incident, including how the attacking team gained possession.