Roberto Rosetti: UEFA VAR symposium a first step towards a united approach for European football

Roberto Rosetti, UEFA’s managing director for refereeing, believes the governing body’s inaugural VAR symposium in Lisbon this week can lay the foundations for building a "united approach" to how European football applies the video assistant referee.

"Uniformity is the key in refereeing, and to VAR," said Rosetti, ahead of an event that represents the first opportunity for all of European football’s key stakeholders to assess the status of the project.

"VAR is now totally integrated into refereeing," observed Rosetti. "Our target is to be consistent in every match, not only in UEFA competitions but in domestic matches too."

Need for clear communication guidelines

FIFA, UEFA, the IFAB, national associations, leagues, clubs, coaches, referees, players and fans will all participate in the symposium, alongside technology and communication experts and representatives from other sports that use video technology to support official decisions.

"This is not just a meeting, it's a very important milestone for football, the first ever meeting about VAR in the world. We are in some way shaping the future of VAR and also of football," said Rosetti, underlining the need for clear guidelines to ensure a consistent, transparent and trusted approach to VAR’s implementation across football.

"Here, we can share experiences and define some guidelines in communication, which is a key part of this project."

Shaping the future of video officiating in football

Rosetti, himself a former elite-level match official, believes the symposium presents a big opportunity for debates and discussions that can shape the future of video officiating within the game.

"We need to find the right balance of communication to be transparent in the right way – not showing every single decision but giving the stakeholders the right tools to read and understand each situation," he said.

"The technology is working very well when it's on objective or factual decisions – if the ball is in or out, or offside, it's perfect. When we speak about interpretations, it's more difficult – it's a problem they don't face in tennis or volleyball – but in football there is a range of consistent applications of the Laws of the Game between two lines, and our job is to reduce this range."

"Extremely good for football"

Assessing the impact of VAR to date, Rosetti is encouraged by what has been achieved in a relatively short time – the technology made its debut in the UEFA Champions League during the 2018/19 season.

"VAR's impact has been absolutely positive," he said. "We must remember that this is still a young project, and it is very strong in terms of the accuracy of decisions and protecting players – serious foul play and violent conduct are very rare in top-level football now.

"However, we know that VAR's application is still not perfect," he continued. "There is still room for improvement, but it has been extremely good for football and it's impossible to go back.

What's on the agenda in Lisbon?

From 23-24 April, delegates from the 46 European national associations that have adopted or have announced that they will adopt VAR will attend a series of presentations and panel discussions.

Participants include some of the biggest names in the game, from Portugal's men's national team coach Roberto Martínez, former international player André Martins and leading French referee Stéphanie Frappart, to David Elleray, technical director at IFAB, UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti, VAR project leader at FIFA Massimiliano Irrati, leading journalist and broadcaster Fabio Caressa and Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe.

There will also be presentations from video technology experts from volleyball, basketball and cricket, and a series of best practice case studies from across European football.