Test in nine stadiums: VAR – referee announcements start at the weekend

As a test, the referees should explain their decisions with an announcement in the stadium after the video assistant has intervened. It starts at the weekend – but there are also reservations.

If necessary, announcements should be made in the stadiums of the following clubs in the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, FC St. Pauli, SC Freiburg, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig, Fortuna Düsseldorf, SpVgg Greuther Fürth . This means that announcements can be made in these games next weekend:

The clubs in question were involved in the DFL Football Commission in autumn 2024. This committee prepared the test together with DFB Schiri GmbH, which is why these clubs were selected, the DFL explained at a media round on the topic. The pilot phase will run until the end of the season, then a balance will be drawn. If things go well, additional stadiums could be included in the current season.

“It clearly contributes to the issue of transparency,” says Knut Kircher, managing director of DFB Schiri GmbH, which is responsible for refereeing in German professional football. Technically, the referees have to press a button on their headset that allows them to switch to the stadium speakers.

Procedure: Announcement comes after VAR interventions

It’s annoying “when the spectators don’t know exactly what happened now,” said Bayern Munich’s sports director Max Eberl, who is part of the commission. The announcements should contribute to clarity.

The referees should always make an announcement when they have made a decision after going to the monitor. In addition, a decision should be announced if a factual decision, such as an offside position, was changed after a recommendation from the video assistant without going to the monitor. The referee’s announcement should contain three elements:

Ultimately, the information content of the announcements remains limited. What was previously shown on scoreboards is now recited by the referees.

Ansgar Schwenken, DFL director of game operations, pointed out that speed should be included in the explanation. The announcement comes immediately after the review. “The displays on the scoreboards were otherwise delayed by ten, twenty, thirty seconds,” said Schwenken. However, a real explanation of the decision in a regulatory sense is not provided, said Jochen Drees, head of technology and innovation at Schiri GmbH. “This is a basic version of the announcement. We want to give the referees a feeling. They should orientate themselves on the previous displays.

Worry about slips of the tongue and mishaps

In principle, the announcements have been possible since March 2023. At that time, the regulators of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) started the test. FIFA often uses the principle in its tournaments. However, at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand we also saw why some referees have reservations.

South Korean referee Hyeon-jeong Oh said over the stadium loudspeakers: “The decision is: no goal, no offside. No, no, no, no. No offside, the final decision is: goal!” The DFB referees know the malice that threatens when something like this happens in important games. Maximum concentration is required. Technical glitches are also a concern. “The referees were part of the process,” Kircher said. “You feel prepared.” The processes were carefully trained. But it’s also clear: “Some people find this sort of thing easier than others.”

German football is not a pioneer on this topic. Since the beginning of the test phase, there have been projects with the announcements in the leagues from Portugal, the USA and Mexico, but also in the English League Cup and the Dutch Cup.