Premier League will have to fall in line as Fifa takes control of VAR protocols

The Premier League will be forced to comply with Fifa’s interpretation of the Video Assistant Referee protocols after the world governing body took control of how the system is implemented worldwide.

The world’s richest league has differed to other competitions in its use of VAR, most notably when it comes to on-field referrals and its refusal to use the system to enforce a law forbidding a goalkeeper moving off his or her line during a penalty.

But Fifa has written to national associations and leagues saying it has taken over all VAR-related activities from the game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab).

The letter states: “All VAR-related activities will now transfer to Fifa. Therefore, please address all your VAR-related questions, comments or suggestions directly to Fifa Refereeing.”

That has transferred control over how VAR is implemented from its chief architect, David Elleray, the former Premier League referee who is Ifab’s technical director, to Pierluigi Collina, the Italian former referee who is the chairman of Fifa’s referees’ committee and who has made it clear he wants the system to be used the same way worldwide.

It is unclear how this would impact on the Premier League’s plan to introduce a margin of error for offside calls involving VAR next season.

Under the guidance of Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who is now Fifa’s head of global football development, the world governing body is set to trial a tweak to the offside law so that there has to be clear daylight between the attacker and defender for an offence to occur.

The Daily Telegraph revealed on Friday that there were no immediate plans to change the handball law that saw VAR rule out goals by Harry Kane and Riyad Mahrez the previous evening.

The law brought in last summer to penalise an attacking player for accidentally handling the ball in the build-up to a goal kept its place in the 2020-21 Laws of the Game which were signed off on in March. Those laws came into force last month and were designed to remain in place until June 1 next year.

Collina said Fifa taking control of the implementation of VAR was a “natural transition”.

“Ifab as an organisation has the duty to govern the laws of football, including VAR and the protocol and regulations. Once the laws of the game are set, Ifab’s job is over,” he added.

“It is then Fifa that deals with referees' education around the world supporting all the member associations.

“Another responsibility of Fifa’s is to have the laws of the game implemented all over the world in the same way. There cannot be different implementation of the laws of the game in different continents or different countries.

“Can you imagine in international competition played by teams who are used to having different interpretations of the laws of the game in their domestic competition? Saying that VAR should be used in the same way all over the world is something obvious.

“Of course there can be some small differences, but the general implementation should be the same.”