How VAR works: the four reviews and the “clear and obvious” bar
The only four situations VAR can check, why the bar is “clear and obvious error”, and how the on-field review works — the referee, not the VAR, still decides.
VAR only checks four things
The Video Assistant Referee is not a re-refereeing of the whole match. It can intervene on exactly four match-changing situations: goals (and any offence in the build-up), penalty decisions, direct red cards (not second yellows), and cases of mistaken identity when a card is shown. Anything outside those four is not for VAR.
The “clear and obvious error” bar
Even within those four, VAR only steps in for a clear and obvious error, or a serious missed incident. It is not there to re-decide close calls the referee got defensibly right. That threshold is why some tight decisions stand even after a check — “not clear and obvious” means the on-field call is kept.
Factual vs subjective
Some calls are factual — was the player offside, did the ball cross the line — and VAR settles them precisely, increasingly with semi-automated offside technology. Others are subjective, like whether a challenge is a foul; for those the VAR recommends an on-field review so the referee can look again.
The referee still decides
On a subjective call the VAR does not overrule anyone. It advises the referee to watch the pitchside monitor (the on-field review); the referee then makes the final decision. VAR is an assistant, not a replacement — the whistle, and the responsibility, stay with the referee on the pitch.