Uefa has just decided to extend the use of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to the World Cup qualification 2022 and to the European Championship playoffs in the coming year. Subsequently, President Aleksander Ceferin said he wanted to discuss the offside rule - and criticized the video evidence.
"The game is changing and we're worried that it's changing too much," Ceferin said. Players made mistakes and the referees on the court would have to bear the responsibility "not some people who are hiding in a car or building, 500 kilometers from the stadium," said the Uefa president.
Ceferin had already substantiated his criticism in the British newspaper "Daily Mirror" on Tuesday. The offside is firstly very narrow. "If you have a long nose, you're offside these days," he is quoted as saying. In addition, the lines would indeed drawn by the video assistants. "In that sense, it's a subjective drawing of objective criteria," says Ceferin.
The Slovene announced that it would make proposals to change the VAR to the regulators of the International Football Association Board (IFAB). In the "Daily Mirror" he proposes to introduce a tolerance of ten to 20 centimeters. That the offside line thus postponed, but the problem described would not be resolved, was unmentioned - as well as other concrete proposals for change.
Ceferin responded to the complaints of fans and TV experts, despite the introduction of the VAR offside decisions were not uniform. Ceferin emphasized, however, that he was not against the VAR in general. This must, inter alia, be faster and clearer. "But he will stay," says Ceferin.