What is VAR? Soccer's video review system explained for World Cup

When you watch the 2026 World Cup this summer, you are going to see something familiar. A big play happens. Everyone stops as the referee walks over to a small screen on the sideline. Everyone watches replays and waits for the referee to confirm or change the call.

It will seem similar to the NFL instant replay, but it’s different.

VAR, soccer’s version of instant replay, is a team of officials in a control room that is already watching every play and will flag anything a referee misses on the field. Challenge flags are not needed.

VAR is soccer’s video assistant referee. Think of it as a second crew of officials sitting in a back room, watching every angle of every play on a bank of monitors. When they spot something the referee on the field got wrong, they radio him through an earpiece and tell him to take another look.

Soccer did not always have instant replay. For most of the sport’s history, the referee made the call and that was it. Right or wrong, the game moved on with the on-field referee in control.

That started to change after a famous blown call in the 2010 World Cup. England’s Frank Lampard hit a shot that clearly bounced over the goal line against Germany. The officials missed it. The goal did not count and England lost.

FIFA spent the next several years developing a replay system to make sure that kind of mistake could not happen again. VAR made its World Cup debut in 2018.

A team of officials sits in a video review room and watches the match on multiple camera feeds. If they spot a mistake, they alert the referee on the field through an earpiece. The referee can accept the recommendation and change the call on the spot, or he can walk over to a small monitor on the sideline and watch the replay himself before deciding.

When a referee heads to that sideline monitor, he signals it by drawing a rectangle in the air with his fingers. That is the cue for everyone in the stadium that a review is underway.

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March 21: Orlando City goalkeeper Maxime Crapeau (71) blocks the header by Nashville SC’s Sam Surridge during the first half at Geodis Park. Nashville SC won the match, 5-0.

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March 1: Inter Miami’s German Berterame controls the ball against Orlando City during the second half at Inter&Co Stadium. Inter Miami won the game, 4-2.

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Feb. 28: Los Angeles FC’s Denis Bouanga and the Houston Dynamo’s Antonio Carlos (left) compete for possession during the first half at Shell Energy Stadium. LAFC won the match, 2-0.

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Feb. 21: Fans watch during the national anthem before the game between Los Angeles FC and Inter Miami CF at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. LAFC won the game, 3-0, knocking off the defending MLS champs.

VAR cannot weigh in on every call. It is limited to four specific situations: whether a goal should count, whether a penalty kick should be awarded, whether a player deserves a red card and whether the referee accidentally penalized the wrong player.

That last one is important. Soccer is a fast and chaotic game. In the heat of a brawl or rough foul, a referee can sometimes card the wrong guy. VAR can step in and fix that before an innocent player gets punished.

FIFA gave VAR two new powers for this summer’s tournament.

First, VAR can now review second yellow cards. In soccer, two yellow cards in the same game means an automatic ejection. The player leaves and his team plays a player down for the rest of the game.

Second, VAR can now weigh in on corner kick decisions. If the referee mistakenly awards a corner kick to the wrong team or misses one entirely, the replay officials can now correct it, as long as the review can be done quickly.

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Not everyone is a fan of VAR. The biggest complaint is the delays. A review can stop the game for several minutes right at the moment the crowd is going wild over a goal or a big play.

Critics also argue that VAR was supposed to fix only obvious, game-changing mistakes. Instead it has ended up dissecting close calls that referees would have simply let go in the past. It has slowed the game down, frustrating both players and fans.

No. The replay officials can flag an error and push for a review, but the referee on the field makes the final call after watching the footage. VAR advises. The referees decide.

If a red card is not overturned during the match, teams can also still appeal to FIFA’s disciplinary committee after the game to try to get the suspension thrown out.