Premier League to Keep VAR Guidelines on Offside Throughout 2019/20 Season Despite Controversy

​The Premier League will not change how VAR operates on marginal offside decisions this season.

This comes after Wolves, Crystal Palace, Norwich, Brighton and Sheffield United all had goals ruled out over the weekend, some as a result of the now infamous ‘armpit’ offside. 

The recent forensic VAR interventions have led the International Football Association Board (IFAB) – football’s law-maker – to claim that the technology should only be used to intervene on blatant errors by the match officials, and they are set to offer more VAR guidance during their annual meeting in February.


But the Premier League are against introducing any changes in the middle of the season, claiming that it would affect the integrity of the competition. The league’s view is that the elite group of video referees are simply following IFAB protocols and making the correct decisions on matters of fact.

Speaking about the issue of VAR and marginal offside calls, Lukas Brud, the general secretary of IFAB, said, as quoted by the Daily Mail: “Clear and obvious still remains — it’s an important principle. There should not be a lot of time spent to find something marginal. 

“If something is not clear on the first sight, then it’s not obvious and it shouldn’t be considered. Looking at one camera angle is one thing but looking at 15, trying to find something that was potentially not even there, this was not the idea of VAR. It should be clear and obvious.”

Manchester United v Newcastle United - Premier League

Former Premier League official Mark Clattenburg also weighed in on the debate, writing in his column for the ​Mail: “The excitement and spirit of the game is in danger of being damaged by the precise nature of the VAR technology when it comes to offside. 

“So why not go back to assistant referees flagging for offside and we stick to their decision?”

While others have argued in favour of the technology, there’s no doubt that VAR will always be a fierce topic of debate and for the time being, Premier League fans will have to deal with a few more goals getting chalked off.

Let’