Villas-Boas: “Let it be retroactive” in Sporting's VAR corner review bid | OneFootball

The General Assembly of the Portuguese Professional Football League was marked by a moment of tension between FC Porto and Sporting during the debate on changes to the competitive and disciplinary regulations for 2026/27.

Among the proposals put forward by the Alvalade club was the intention to allow the VAR protocol to also cover the review of corner kicks, a change aimed at expanding video refereeing intervention to incidents that have so far fallen outside the current framework.

During the discussion, André Villas-Boas, president of FC Porto, made a critical remark about Sporting’s proposal, suggesting that it should apply retroactively to the 2025/26 season so that it would not be seen as an inconsistent gesture, given the way Sporting benefited from such incidents during the season. The suggestion was rejected by Sporting.

The meeting took place this Wednesday, May 20, and included several proposed changes to the Competition, Refereeing and Disciplinary Regulations. According to the outcome of the General Assembly, the proposals submitted by Sporting were ultimately rejected.

Among the changes approved by the League, the standout decision was to require only the matches of the final round to be played on the same day and at the same time, one of the changes validated for next season.

The session thus confirmed disagreements between clubs on sensitive matters of refereeing and competitive regulation, in a meeting that served to define an important part of the framework of Portuguese professional football for 2026/27.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.