Euro 2020: Use of The VAR Technology and The Updated Handball Law?
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| Euro 2020: Use of The VAR Technology |
Euro 2020 will start on June 11th and run for a month, with the final taking place on July 11th. The matches will be divided up between BBC and ITV before both air the final in July.
Use of VAR at Euro 2020?
Euro 2016 was a VAR-free zone and, despite it being commonplace now, there were a lot of us hoping it would somehow be omitted from Euro 2020 too.
When VAR was first announced, fans were split, with many happy something was in place to overrule bad decision – Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in 2010 that should have brought them level with Germany being one such moment that was hotly discussed.
Europe’s most senior refereeing official has admitted VAR is a “dangerous project” as Uefa commits extra resources to the technology for this summer’s European Championship. A third VAR official, with the responsibility purely for checking offside decisions, and a dedicated VAR hub in Switzerland will be part of plans to ensure the delayed Euro 2020 goes smoothly, Guardian report June 4.
Speaking before the tournament, however, Roberto Rosetti also pointedly observed that the VAR can work only if its interventions are kept to a minimum. “Uefa believes in [VAR],” Rosetti, Uefa’s chief refereeing officer, said. “We really believe it is an important help for the referees. Not only for the referees but an important help for football.
“Of course we need to use this project in the correct way; it can also be a dangerous project. We need to be careful, we need to be clear. We need to follow the principles of the laws of the game. We want to continue to use VAR only for clear and obvious mistakes.”
Rosetti confirmed that Uefa would use a VAR, assistant VAR and offside VAR during each of the championship’s 51 matches, a model Uefa deployed in last weekend’s Champions League final. “The offside VAR is totally focussed … on all possible offsides ahead of a goal or penalty,” Rosetti said. “That means we can speed up the process, we can reduce the time of the reviews.”
Offside reviews are among the most contentious aspects of VAR.
While the football world might still be split in its opinion on how best to use the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, it can be safely said that it is here to stay. There will be modifications to it as leagues and federations keep tweaking it from time to time, but the fact that VAR will be an integral part of Euro 2020 is a big step forward in accepting the limitations of the human brain. We already saw its implementation in the 2018 World Cup, and three years down the line, the expectation will be that referees and match officials can use it correctly and to its full potential.
 Who Are Euro 2020 Referees: Assistants and VAR officials? Love them or hate them, referees play a massive role at international tournaments and Euro 2020 will be no different. Referees: Assistants and VAR officials ... |
What Is VAR Technology?VAR stands for Virtual Assistant Referee, and it is a system that will help the refs make decisions during the games. It has led to a debate between people who think that the game is changing too quickly and those who welcome digitization as the next step to improved performance and accuracy. It can help referees make more accurate decisions. There are assistant referees who will watch instant replays of incidents, and they can communicate with the refs to let them know if there is a game-changing incident. It is meant to help in the areas of goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity. This technology assists the refs, but they still hold the power to make the final decision. |
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| Use of VAR at Euro 2020 |
The Handball Law in Full
The handball law was updated by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in March and the changes come into force worldwide.
It is a handball offence if a player:
- deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball;
- touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised; or
- scores in the opponents' goal:
- - directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper; or
- - immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental.
The law update also provided clarity on what constitutes handball, particularly on unnatural body position. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand or arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation.
| 5-Substitutes rule This is also the first time that an international football tournament will have the 5-substitutes rule. Mostly induced by the pandemic, the rule allows teams to make five substitutions in a game instead of the usual three. However, they have to do that within three stoppages to ensure that no time is wasted. Significantly, the rule has now been extended till December 31 2022, which means that next year's World Cup in Qatar will also have the rule in place. Increased squad strength For any tournament, the usual number of players in a squad is 23. However, keeping in mind the possibility of a COVID outbreak in a team and the existing fatigue level in players due to the condensed European season, that number has now been increased to 26. Even so, teams can only name 23 players in their matchday squad in line with the laws of the game, 11 in the starting eleven and 12 on the bench. |
Euro 2020 referees - Who are they?
The list of 18 official Euro 2020 referees are as follows:
Felix Brych (Germany)
Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)
Carlos Del Cerro Grande (Spain)
Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
Orel Grinfeeld (Israel)
Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania)
Sergei Karasev (Russia)
Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
Michael Oliver (England)
Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias (Portugal)
Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Anthony Taylor (England)
Clément Turpin (France)
Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
There was some debate over whether both Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver would be appointed. Two Premier League referees have gone to past tournaments but it isn't a certainty.
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