In an interview with the Daily Mirror, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has spoken on the problems relating to the usage of VAR in leagues across Europe.
“If you have a long nose, you are in an offside position these days. The lines are drawn by VAR so it’s a bit subjective for something objective. We will discuss this with our referees division and will propose that there is a tolerance of 10-20 centimetres given,” he began.
He also shared his disappointment at the new handball rules, which were supposed to make things clearer.
“We had the top coaches at UEFA two weeks ago, in Nyon. Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Max Allegri, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane were among those there.
“Our referee officer, Roberto Rossetti showed them a handball and asked them whether it was a handball or not. Half the room said yes. Half said no. So tell me how clear the rule is. We do not know anything!”
He then returned to speak on the varying usage of VAR in different countries.
“Some referees in England, they don’t even check. In Italy they check for half an hour. You know, it’s a mess. I was never a big fan fan of this. Now these days you see that linesmen don’t even bother to lift the flag anymore. They wait and wait and wait.
“The players don’t celebrate immediately. Now they have to wait for the VAR clearance and as I said, no one can explain what is handball and what is not.”
He carried on and made his thoughts on technology in football even clearer: “Referees mistakes are like players’ mistakes. We were talking about referees mistakes for a week. It was interesting. Now it’s all about technology. Nobody knows who is making the decisions.
“It’s okay if you don’t rule someone offside if it’s one centimetre. Because the meaning of offside is that I have to have some kind of advantage. I’m not a big fan, but unfortunately, if we say we will not use it anymore, we will be killed.”
