In response to the incident involving Luis Diaz’s disallowed goal during Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham, the Premier League has introduced new guidelines for the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system.
These guidelines will take immediate effect following the acknowledgment by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) that a “significant human error” occurred. During the match, VAR official Darren England mistakenly believed that the on-field team had already awarded the goal to Diaz and prematurely declared “check complete,” confirming Diaz’s onside position.
However, this declaration was misunderstood by the on-field team, who interpreted it as an affirmation of their initial offside decision, resulting in confusion and controversy.
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PGMOL has now clarified that the objective of the new guidelines is to “enhance the clarity of communication between the referee and the VAR team regarding on-field decisions.”
Under the revised protocol, VAR officials will first verify the review outcome with the assistant VAR before conveying the final decision to the on-field match officials. This adjustment is designed to prevent a recurrence of the situation that occurred with Diaz.