World Cup 2026: Is VAR being used differently than in the Premier League?

VAR has not been without controversy at the World Cup.

Think of the red card given to South Africa’s Themba Zwane for violent behavior in the opening game.

or the The judge rejected the penalty assessment After France’s Kylian Mbappe appeared to be tripped by Senegal’s Sadio Mane.

But mostly there weren’t many talking points.

This is the way to go in major tournaments as the players take less risks compared to a 38-game league season.

On average, there is one key match incident (red card, penalty call, etc.) in a World Cup game. It’s three in the Premier League. That instantly creates scope for more controversy at the league level.

We have to expect refereeing to be the gold standard in the World Cup.

Above all, FIFA scoured the globe to select the crème de la crème, the 51 best referees and the 30 best video match officials.

Whispers, but FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina wants the officials to approach the match like a Premier League game.

Colina’s ethos is football is a relationship sport, and not all relationships are bad. He wants to see free games at high speed.

You can pick that wording out of the Premier League handbook.

The statistics also support this. Juries are blowing far fewer misdemeanors.

The 2018 World Cup saw 27 fouls per game, up from 25 four years ago in Qatar.

It has dropped to 21.7 for this World Cup. It was 21.6 in the Premier League last season.

Collina reduced the number of cautions given per game.

If you change the way a game is run, you must adjust the video review.