Premier League Clubs Vote in Favour of Keeping VAR

Premier League clubs have voted by 19-1 in favour of keeping video assistant referees (VAR) next season.

Wolves triggered a vote on the use of VAR in the 2024-25 season after formally submitting a resolution to the Premier League in May.

In order for VAR to be scrapped, 14 of the 20 Premier League clubs needed to vote in favour of doing so.

But only Wolves voted in favour of the proposal as they failed to gain any support from other top flight clubs.

Wolves said they were “disappointed with the outcome of the vote” but welcomed the Premier League’s “commitment to improve VAR”.

The Premier League has come under increasing pressure to modify VAR, which was introduced at the start of the 2019-20 season.

Wolves listed nine reasons to support its proposal to ban VAR, including the impact on goal celebrations, hostility towards match officials and the length of time needed to reach decisions.

It was reaffirmed at the meeting that semi-automated offsides will be introduced at some point in the autumn, while the Premier League confirmed in-game VAR announcements will be put in place.

The in-game announcements, which were used during the 2023 women’s World Cup, will see referees explain post-VAR decisions to supporters in stadiums.

In addition, the Premier League said the “high threshold” bar for VAR officials to intervene over subjective on-field decisions would be maintained.

Malcolm Clarke, chairman of the Football Supporters’ Association, said “enormous changes” were needed to the current system because fans “cannot carry on like this.”