VAR was supposed to fix football. Instead, it gave us four-minute delays, toenail offsides, and referees staring at screens like they're watching Netflix mid-match. Here are four calls that made 2025-26 an absolute VAR disasterclass.
1. The Diaz Offside That Wasn't — Liverpool vs Spurs, September 2025
Let's start with the one that still makes Anfield's blood boil. Luis Díaz scores a perfectly legitimate goal, the linesman flags, and VAR — somehow — forgets to draw the lines. The audio leak later revealed Darren England in the booth saying "check complete" before realizing they'd reviewed the wrong thing. You can't make this up.
The PGMOL issued an apology. Great. That definitely gave Liverpool their two points back. Oh wait — it didn't.
2. The Champions League Final Handball — Real Madrid vs Man City, June 2026
85th minute. Score tied 1-1. Bernardo Silva whips in a cross that deflects off Rüdiger's arm from six inches away. Referee blows for a penalty. VAR reviews it — and agrees. Rüdiger's arm was pinned to his body. The ball came off his thigh first. UEFA's own handball guidelines say that's not a penalty. And yet.
Haaland converted. Madrid lost the final. Florentino Pérez released a statement so angry it probably needed its own content warning. The ref got a three-week holiday. Cool, that helps.
3. The "Toenail Offside" That Cancelled a Hat-Trick — Arsenal vs Newcastle, March 2026
Saka slots home what would've been his third of the night. Emirates erupts. VAR draws the lines. His left big toe is offside by two millimetres. Two. Millimetres. The goal is chalked off and with it goes Saka's first Premier League hat-trick.
Here's the thing — the technology isn't accurate enough to measure millimetres. The frame rate of the cameras means the ball can travel several centimetres between frames. We're pretending we have NASA-level precision when we're working with broadcast cameras designed for replays, not forensics.
4. The Red Card That Wasn't — Chelsea vs Man United, April 2026
Lisandro Martínez goes studs-up into Cole Palmer's shin. It's violent. It's dangerous. It's textbook red. Referee shows yellow. VAR checks and says — I quote — "no clear and obvious error."
Social media lost its collective mind. Palmer posted a photo of his shin on Instagram with three crying-laughing emojis. The FA charged him. The FA didn't charge Martínez. You see the problem here.
The Real Issue Nobody Wants to Fix
The technology isn't the problem. The people operating it are. Same referees who make mistakes on the pitch are the ones in the booth making the same mistakes with more cameras and more time. That's not a system — that's just expensive job security. Until VAR is run by independent specialists rather than the same old boys' club, expect more of the same.