Soccer should learn from the NFL to fix the mess that VAR has created
Soccer should learn from the NFL to fix the mess that VAR has created. Skip to main content Skip to navigation Soccer should learn from the NFL to fix the mess that VAR has created1hMark OgdenManchester derby mess shows VAR's quest for perfection is doomed to fail2dMark OgdenFurious fans, peeved parents and side gigs: Why would anyone want to be a ref?
What happened
Is it time to give the VAR the red card, or does soccer actually need the red flag? The Manchester derby controversy could have been avoided with an on-field challenge. 1dTom HamiltonLiverpool can't take Mac Allister and Gakpo for granted — they're still match winners16hBeth LindopGreek flags and Grand Finals: Why Melbourne Victory feels like home for Giovanni Savarese11hJoey LynchManchester derby defined by VAR drama; Real Madrid booed; Chelsea bullied by Hull2dGabriele MarcottiMLS Power Rankings: Chicago's slide continues as Nashville cements top spot2dMegan SwanickNWSL Power Rankings: Gotham FC rise to the top as Spirit slip2dJenna PelplayBurley: VAR issues caused by incompetent humans, not technology (1:31)Mark OgdenSep 16, 2026, 09:30 AM ETMultiple AuthorsEmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsIs it time to give the video assistant referee the red card, or does soccer actually need the red flag?
OK, "calamitous" might be a little strong in the grand scheme of things, but by incorrectly awarding the goal — Pro Ref, the referees' body, publicly admitted within three hours of the final whistle that the VAR team had awarded it in error by failing to identify City midfielder Enzo Fernández in an offside position — the sporting ramifications are potentially huge. – Manchester derby mess shows VAR's quest for perfection is doomed to fail – Premier League VAR review: Wrongly awarded goal costs Man United – Which Premier League managers will be fired first?
If City win the Premier League title by one or two points, the goal-that-shouldn't-have-been will be decisive. Except soccer doesn't have a challenge process. Maybe teams would have to add a Laws of the Game expert to their already-crowded benches — coaches and players tend not to know rules as comprehensively as they should. But as Sunday's VAR mess highlighted, even the officials don't always apply them correctly.
The wider picture
What should parents and children make of it all? 9mCesar HernandezTransfer rumors, news: Barça, Madrid believe Haaland could leave Man City next summer7hESPNAmid WSL title drought, is Arsenal's amazing squad depth really a curse? 7hEmily KeoghHot Seat Index: Which Premier League managers will be fired first? 1dRyan O'HanlonPremier League overreactions: Title race already down to two teams? As the fallout continues in the wake of Erling Haaland's goal in Manchester City's 1-0 Premier League win against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, the audio of VAR Matt Donohue and assistant VAR Blake Antrobus arriving at their decision was released on Tuesday.
The 2:29 clip was nothing less than a pitch for the sport to follow the NFL, tennis and cricket by introducing a challenge process for teams on the wrong end of a calamitous decision. If United manager Michael Carrick fails to halt the club's worst start to a Premier League season for 34 years, he could lose his job and point to the negative momentum caused by Haaland's goal and the defeat it inflicted. Yet if Carrick had the ability to immediately challenge the decision, citing Fernández's offside position, the Premier League's most contentious VAR mistake could have been corrected and erased from the record books within seconds.
What has been reported
In the NFL, coaches are able to throw a red flag onto the field to challenge some aspects of plays. In cricket, team captains have 15 seconds to dispute an umpire's decision they believe to be incorrect, and a similar system is in place in tennis. There are penalties for failed challenges — in the NFL, teams lose a timeout, and all sports offer a limited, fixed amount of such reviews per game. As the VAR continues to show it's an imperfect safety net, the time has surely come for a challenge system to be made available to managers and coaches.
The VAR was introduced at the FIFA World Cup in 2018 to put an end to controversial, incorrect or inexplicable decisions by the on-field team of officials which were sometimes the difference between success or failure. It was brought in to ensure that swift justice was served on players who had committed fouls unseen by the referee or, in some cases, overturn erroneous calls that led to players being shown red cards. That was the utopian idea of the VAR — the ultimate fail-safe to make incidents like Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" goal against England at the 1986 World Cup nothing but a memory of different times when technology wasn't available to correct bad calls.
But City's goal against United at Old Trafford wasn't an isolated example of the VAR being unfit for the purpose.
What happens next
A Luis Díaz goal for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur in October 2023 was wrongly disallowed for offside, prompting the Anfield team to receive an apology for a "significant human error" by VAR Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook. Eight months earlier, Arsenal also received an apology from PGMOL (now Pro Ref) after a "human error" by VAR Lee Mason led to Ivan Toney scoring an equalizer against the Gunners for Brentford. Mason did not correctly check the guidelines for offside and allowed the goal.
That might sound painfully familiar for United with Donohue and Antrobus failing to even once ask themselves whether Fernández was challenging for the ball or obstructing United defender Lisandro Martínez's path to clearing it. Had the VAR team applied the offside law correctly, the goal would have been disallowed. In each of those aforementioned incidents — and there have been many more since the Premier League adopted the VAR in the 2019-20 season — an appeal by the team on the wrong end of the decision would have dealt with the matter quickly and satisfactorily.
So how feasible, or likely, would it be for the Premier League to allow managers to contest a VAR decision during a game?
The report has been compiled by The Daily Waves using information reported across espn.com, bbc.co.uk. Details are presented according to the information available at the time of publication and may change as authorities, organisers or other relevant parties provide updates.