UEFA launches Clear Line, setting stricter VAR guidance than FIFA | OneFootball

UEFA has launched Clear Line, a platform to standardise refereeing across its competitions, setting a tighter line on VAR than FIFA. According to L'Équipe, Roberto Rosetti introduced the tool to ensure consistent application of the Laws of the Game and video review.

The platform compiles more than 150 refereeing scenarios and gives detailed direction on interpreting the Laws and when VAR should, or should not, intervene in specific situations across domestic and UEFA events. Hosted on UEFA’s website, it uses a wide range of videos and visual explanations to unpack the reasoning behind complex and contentious calls.

UEFA already briefed European referees about four times a year, often via video, to set expectations. Clear Line will go further, and will be updated as new situations arise or when extra clarity is required.

The move underlines a stance that diverges from FIFA’s broader use of VAR seen at the last World Cup, which regularly went beyond cases set out by IFAB. UEFA wants to stick to the original philosophy, correcting only a clear and obvious error.

Rosetti said the platform restates that VAR should be used only for a clear and obvious error, not to run the match. He wants referees with personality and video as a rare aid, adding it should return to correcting incidents such as the Maradona handball against England in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final and Thierry Henry’s handball against Ireland in the World Cup 2010 qualifying play-off, rather than microscopic details.

Source: L'Équipe

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