It’s football, not PlayStation – Uefa refs’ chief on VAR

Uefa’s referees chief Roberto Rosetti has delivered a blunt assessment of VAR’s current state, warning that some video assistant reviews have strayed into territory that bears little resemblance to the game itself. Speaking to BBC Sport after a meeting with lead referee officers from Europe’s top leagues, Rosetti said some interventions “were not connected with football,” a phrase that crystallises the growing frustration among officials and coaches that reviews have become overly technical. The criticism arrives as Uefa rolls out Clear Line, a new portal aimed at clarifying when VAR should intervene, signalling a push for greater consistency before the new season.

Why Rosetti is calling time on VAR’s “PlayStation” culture

Rosetti’s most pointed remark—”It’s football, not PlayStation”—underscores a growing frustration among officials and coaches that some reviews have become overly technical, dissecting incidents with a precision that feels disconnected from the flow of the game. The meeting in July brought together lead referee officers from England, Spain, Germany, France and Italy, alongside Ifab’s technical director David Elleray, to address the widening gaps in interpretation. Rosetti acknowledged that dissatisfaction with VAR’s impact is now widespread, adding that referees must prioritise clear, game-defining errors over marginal calls. “The referee must referee the match,” he said. “It’s something important for football, for clear situations and clear mistakes.”

The new Clear Line portal reflects this intent. Uefa has uploaded multiple handball examples to illustrate what constitutes an offence, aiming to align competitions that currently operate with vastly different thresholds. The Premier League, for instance, averaged a handball penalty every 17.27 games last season, while the Champions League saw one every seven games—the highest frequency in Europe. Such disparities highlight the challenge of creating a unified standard, but Rosetti insists the effort is necessary to restore credibility. “We want to avoid microscopic situations,” he said. “The context is super important.”

Handball remains the flashpoint, but the bigger issue is volume

Handball continues to divide opinion, with leagues applying wildly inconsistent interpretations. Rosetti conceded that football will never achieve perfect uniformity, but stressed that clearer communication—through tools like Clear Line—can at least reduce surprises. The portal’s examples are designed to show where the line should be drawn, particularly in situations where marginal contact or position might have led to penalties elsewhere. “The perception about handball in England is different,” Rosetti noted. “Football is not perfect, and sometimes we will continue to have similar situations interpreted in different ways.”

Yet the volume of reviews is also under scrutiny. In the 2025-26 campaign, the Premier League had the lowest intervention rate in Europe at 0.29 per game, while the Champions League sat at 0.47. Rosetti described this as “too many reviews,” warning that excessive interventions are disrupting the rhythm of matches. The contrast between competitions suggests that some leagues are still treating VAR as a corrective tool for every debatable decision, rather than reserving it for clear, obvious errors—a principle Uefa now wants to reinforce. “We realise that everywhere now there is not any satisfaction about how VAR is impacting football,” he said.

What Clear Line changes—and what it doesn’t

Clear Line is Uefa’s attempt to demystify VAR by providing public-facing guidance on when reviews should occur. The portal, launched on 28 July 2025, includes video breakdowns of handball incidents, offside calls and other common flashpoints, with explanations tailored to match officials and fans alike. The goal is transparency: to show that VAR’s role is to correct egregious mistakes, not to nitpick every marginal decision. “The idea is to be more consistent in the application of the laws,” Rosetti said.

However, the initiative does not alter the laws of the game itself. Handball interpretations will still vary by competition, and Rosetti acknowledged that some differences are inevitable. What Clear Line offers is a shared reference point—a way to measure whether a review is justified by the laws, rather than by the subjective standards of a particular league. Whether this translates into fewer stoppages or more consistent penalties remains to be seen, but the direction of travel is clear: Uefa wants VAR to feel like an extension of the referee’s authority, not a parallel game governed by its own rules.

For clubs and players, the shift could mean fewer interruptions and a return to the kind of refereeing decisions that feel instinctive rather than calculated. Rosetti’s warning is a reminder that technology should serve football, not the other way around. If Clear Line succeeds in curbing the “PlayStation” tendencies that have crept into VAR reviews, the game may finally start to feel like one again.