The blatant robbery faced by Newcastle United in Paris during their champions league match at the French champions was a disgrace to the game.
What had been a story of an injury stricken squad holding out against one of the favourites in the tournament to give their chances of qualification a major boost ended up being yet another debate about VAR and its place in football.
VAR is supposed to help decisions be made fairly, and crucially bring an overall consistency to decisions made during football games. Instead, it’s only lead to making games more confusing for players and fans watching the games.
While the decision remains controversial, it was made based on the stricter rules regarding handball that UEFA follows. According to The Telegraph, the penalty would have never stood in an English Premier League game, due to the positioning of Tino Livramento.
In England, the rule is that “no handball offence should be called on a player if the ball is previously deflected from his own body and, in particular, when the ball does not go towards the goal’.
The same team should not be punished for something that is totally okay in their own domestic league, and the varying rules only alienates fans further against VAR.
According to a YouGov poll conducted in October of 2023, 54% of viewers state that VAR has made premier league matches less enjoyable to watch. Without fans, football would cease to exist and for a majority of fans to be unhappy with the state of VAR indicates that there needs to be changes to the use of VAR.
The impact of the decision isn’t just felt on the pitch. For the first time in 20 years, Newcastle United are in the champions league, which is an incredibly lucrative competition. For teams competing within it. Qualification from the group stage to the round of 16 alone is worth 9.6 million euros (approximately 8.2 million pounds), which in the age of strict financial fair play rules can go a long way towards transfers and other expenses, with rumours the club are looking to expand the stadium.
However, the decision to award the penalty against Newcastle has put them down to third in the group, where clubs are demoted to the Europa League. Progression through the Europa League brings a lot less financial gain, with even progress to the final itself only being worth 7.6 million pounds.
While it is still possible for Newcastle to go through to the Champions League round of 16, their fate was forcefully taken from out of their hands as they are forced to rely on other results when they face Milan on Wednesday night.
Although the video review official responsible for the decision was removed from the subsequent champions league games, this be any consolation to Newcastle fans or the club who are at a major loss due to the decision. For VAR to continue to be a key part of Football, changes must be made as it affects both fans and clubs from a business perspective.
