Video Assistant Referee (VAR) errors in the Premier League have increased during the first half of the 2025/26 season, according to the latest data from the independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel.
The panel, which reviews major officiating decisions weekly, confirmed 13 VAR errors so far this season, up from 10 at the same stage last year. While this is a 30% increase, the league notes that the figures are still an improvement over the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, which saw significantly higher error counts.
Key Data Insights:
- Missed Interventions: 11 of the 13 errors were “missed interventions,” where the VAR failed to advise the on-field referee to review a clear mistake.
- Reduction in Overturns: The total number of VAR overturns has dropped by nearly 18% (from 57 to 47), reflecting a more cautious “clear and obvious” approach that has inadvertently led to more missed calls.
- On-Field Errors: General refereeing mistakes that didn’t meet the VAR threshold also rose, increasing from 12 to 15.
- Club Impact: Chelsea has been identified as the biggest beneficiary of these errors, while Bournemouth, Brentford, and Manchester United have been the most negatively affected.
Notable Incidents:
- Liverpool vs. Bournemouth: Marcos Senesi escaped a red card for a deliberate handball.
- Chelsea vs. Fulham: Josh King had a legitimate goal wrongly disallowed due to an incorrect VAR intervention.
- Wolves vs. Everton: Hugo Bueno was denied a clear penalty after a careless challenge.
- Brentford vs. Tottenham: Cristian Romero avoided a red card despite denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
The KMI Panel, which includes former players and coaches, emphasized that the current trend suggests a shift toward non-intervention is allowing more objective errors to slip through the net.