Is VAR being used differently at the World Cup vs the Premier League?

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Four goals have been disallowed on VAR review at the 2026 World Cup By Dale Johnson Football issues correspondent Published 5 minutes ago Complaining about the video assistant referee has become a sport all of its own in the Premier League. It has felt very different at the 2026 World Cup, where VAR has largely been pretty low key. So it may come as a surprise that there have been more regular VAR interventions than in the Premier League last season. Perception can be just as powerful as the facts, especially in the emotionally charged world of football. Games come thick and fast at a World Cup. No sooner has one incident happened, another match comes along to wash over it. In the Premier League, where supporters have a vested interest in every game, controversy does not fade away quite so quickly. So why does it feel so different at the World Cup? Is the World Cup being refereed like a Premier League game? VAR at the World Cup has not been without its controversies. Think of the red card for South Africa's Themba Zwane for violent conduct in the opening game. Or the referee rejecting a penalty review after France's Kylian Mbappe appeared to be tripped by Senegal's Sadio Mane. But for the most part, there have not been too many talking points. It is often the way at major tournaments, as players take fewer risks compared to a 38-game league season. On average, there is one key match incident (red card, penalty claim etc) in a World Cup fixture. In the Premier League, it is three. That instantly creates the scope for more controversy at league level. We should expect refereeing to be the gold standard at the World Cup, too. After all, Fifa scoured the globe to select the creme de la creme, the 51 top referees and 30 best video match officials. Whisper it, but Pierluigi Collina, Fifa's head of referees, wants his officials to approach the tournament a bit like a Premier League game. Collina's ethos is that football is a contact sport, and not all contact is a foul. He wants to see free-flowing games at a higher tempo. You could pick that wording right out of the Premier League handbook. The stats back this up, too. Referees are blowing for far fewer fouls. The 2018 World Cup saw 27 fouls per game, while in Qatar four years ago it was 25. For this World Cup it is down to 21.7. In the Premier League last season it was 21.6. Collina has also reduced the number of cautions per game, with 2.4 well below any other competition or recent World Cup. If you change the way a game is being refereed, you must adapt video review too. VARs getting involved less in the World Cup Collina's desire to have a higher threshold for challenges on the field has a direct link to VAR. The Italian wants consistency of decision-making. If you let more tackles go on the field, you must have fewer VAR interventions. Both bars must move in unison. Take the penalty appeals for Scotland's John McGinn and Scott McTominay against Morocco. Cl