Four goals have been disallowed by video assistant referee reviews at the 2026 World Cup. Yet the rate of VAR interventions per game is actually higher than in the Premier League last season – a fact that clashes with the widespread sense that the technology has been far less intrusive in the tournament.
Perception, as ever in football, can be more powerful than data. In the Premier League, where supporters have a vested interest in every match, controversy lingers. At a World Cup, games come thick and fast, each new fixture washing over the last. That may explain why complaints about VAR have felt more muted in the United States and Canada despite the higher intervention rate.
“VAR interventions per game are higher at the 2026 World Cup than the Premier League, yet perception says the opposite.”
Not that the tournament has been free of flashpoints. South Africa’s Themba Zwane saw red for violent conduct after a VAR review in the opening game. And a penalty review was rejected when France’s Kylian Mbappe appeared to be tripped by Senegal’s Sadio Mane. But on the whole, talking points have been fewer – partly because players take fewer risks in a knockout environment. On average, there is one key match incident per World Cup fixture; in the Premier League, there are three. That alone creates more scope for controversy at league level.
Pierluigi Collina, Fifa’s head of referees, has shaped the tournament’s officiating approach. He selected 51 top referees and 30 video match officials, aiming for the gold standard. Collina’s ethos is that football is a contact sport and not all contact is a foul; he wants free-flowing games at a higher tempo. The statistics reflect that: the 2018 World Cup averaged 27 fouls per game, Qatar 2022 saw 25, but this tournament has dropped to 21.7 – almost identical to the Premier League’s 21.6 last season. Cautions have also fallen to 2.4 per game, well below any recent competition.
Collina’s desire for a higher threshold on the pitch has a direct link to VAR. If referees let more tackles go, video reviews must follow suit. Both bars must move in unison. That explains why Scotland’s John McGinn and Scott McTominay saw penalty appeals against Morocco rejected – claims Collina deemed too soft for his threshold.
As the Premier League prepares for a new season – Coventry will host champions Arsenal in the opening fixture – the debate over VAR’s role is far from over. The stats show the system is being used more frequently at the World Cup, but the howls of protest have been louder in the league.