75% of fans oppose VAR in Premier League, says FSA
72% of fans are against using VAR to check if corners have been correctly awarded, and 52% of fans are against using VAR to check if second yellow cards have been fairly awarded, both of which will be implemented at this summer's World Cup Last week data showed that referee and VAR errors are on the increase in the Premier League. "We discuss refereeing in more detail than we ever have before, even though we have something that's supposed to make it even more accurate," Concannon says. "You can understand that the clubs and league want to try and make sure that the decisions are correct, because there's so much money involved, but it becomes a little bit hard to take for a supporter when they see a goal disallowed because there is a hair offside.
"If it's not going to speed up and it's not going to take away the controversy of what we still debate nowadays, that's why the supporters are voting in the way that they have. " Fewer than half of respondents believe that the introduction of referees announcing their decisions over the in-stadium speaker system is an improvement, and most do not believe the announcements make the decision-making process any clearer. In contrast with VAR, 93% of fans support the use of goalline technology in the Premier League.
There is little prospect of VAR being removed from the Premier League, or having its remit reduced. In 2024, 19 out of 20 top-flight clubs voted to keep VAR , with only Wolves voting against, having proposed the poll themselves. In order for VAR to be scrapped, 14 out of the 20 Premier League clubs would have to vote against it following a new proposal for abolition by a club.
The independent key match incident (KMI) review panel estimates there has been an accuracy rate of 96-97% for refereeing decisions made in Premier League matches since the introduction of VAR, while time delays caused by VAR have dropped by 25% in the past two seasons. This year an FA Cup tie between Aston Villa and Newcastle United , which did not have VAR, featured three significant refereeing errors, leading it to being labelled the best advert yet for the technology. The Premier League said: "VAR delivers more correct decisions.
"In recent seasons, there have been around 100 correct VAR overturns per season - instances where goals would otherwise have been incorrectly awarded or disallowed, or red cards or penalties missed or wrongly given. "The league applies a high threshold for VAR intervention, with the referee's call taking precedence. As a result, VAR is less intrusive in the Premier League than in other European leagues, including the Champions League, where VAR intervenes almost twice as often.