VAR system significantly reducing number of refereeing errors in LaLiga Santander

Published on: 15 January 2019

LaLiga and stakeholders across the top flight of Spanish football are witnessing a landmark season, with the video assistant referee system having been implemented at the start of the current campaign. Following the conclusion of the first half of the league season, the statistics collected in relation to the new technology reflect what a decisive impact it is having in LaLiga Santander.

Of the total of 2,280 incidents to have been reviewed across the 190 fixtures played to date, the referee overturned an initial decision following consultation with the technology in 59 cases. When these amended decisions are divided by the number of games played, the result shows that the VAR system intervenes once every 3.2 games on average.

As stipulated by the regulations governing the VAR system, its use is restricted to situations relating to goals, penalties, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity in which it is believed that the main referee has made a clear and obvious error. When it comes to classifying the 59 situations in which the system has intervened, the breakdown is as follows: 30 goal, 20 penalty and six straight red card incidents and three cases of mistaken identity.

To focus on the 30 goal incidents and placing this figure in the context of the 481 goals that have been scored so far this term, it can be concluded that the VAR system has corrected a notable 6.23% of such incidents. When this same analysis is applied to penalties, the technology has improved the accuracy of such decisions by a significant 4.79%.

In sum, the VAR system has seen 59 clear and obvious mistakes overturned during the first half of the LaLiga Santander season. This means that the technology has enabled the on-field referee to improve their initial decision in relation to 59 incidents, with the interest of fairness always at the fore.

Source: laligaes.es

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