Is VAR being used at Euro 2020? Rules explained
Many will likely be hoping the answer is no.
"He's through on goal, it's Harry Kane for England, Manuel Neuer is coming off his line, Kane's round him, he's through! KANE! GOAL! England are taking the Euro 2020 final to extra time! Wait. No. The referee is signalling for VAR. This isn't going to count. No goal! The years of hurt continue for England."
If you are not 100 per cent convinced this is how July 2021 will go, you simply haven't been paying attention.
Euro 2020 fixtures are underway, the tournament is stomping ahead at full steam, but underneath all the excitement, all the expectancy and hope, the are three letter ebbing away at every fan's resolve: VAR.
The controversial virtual referee system has been deployed across top leagues across the continent throughout 2020/21, with the Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga all adopting the system.
While each league has adopted the technology with mild variations on its usage, the one constant is that it has certainly not served its purpose of ridding the game of controversy. If anything, it has served to drench the fire with fuel.
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Now, as the Euros kick off, we're left wondering whether VAR will steal our summer and ruin our dreams at the Euros, and you're not going to like the answer.
Read on for everything you need to know and check out our Euro 2020 TV schedule.
Is VAR being used at Euro 2020?
Euro 2016 was a VAR-free zone and, despite it being commonplace now, there were a lot of us hoping it would somehow be omitted from Euro 2020 too.
When VAR was first announced, fans were split, with many happy something was in place to overrule bad decision – Frank Lampard's disallowed goal in 2010 that should have brought them level with Germany being one such moment that was hotly discussed.
But now, the vast majority have turned on it, with the decisions being made causing more frustration than anything else – it is not being used the way many of us had hoped, with even high profile people involved in the game voicing their frustrations.
If you fall into that camp then we have bad news as VAR will indeed be used at Euro 2020 and we suspect all eyes will be on it to see how much of impact it has.
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If you want a list of who the non-virtual referees are that have been chosen for the tournament, here they are:
- Felix Brych (Germany)
- Cüneyt Çakır (Turkey)
- Carlos Del Cerro Grande (Spain)
- Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
- Orel Grinfeeld (Israel)
- Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania)
- Sergei Karasev (Russia)
- Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
- Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
- Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
- Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz (Spain)
- Michael Oliver (England)
- Daniele Orsato (Italy)
- Artur Manuel Ribeiro Soares Dias (Portugal)
- Daniel Siebert (Germany)
- Anthony Taylor (England)
- Clément Turpin (France)
- Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
Euro 2020 will start on June 11th and run for a month, with the final taking place on July 11th. The matches will be divided up between BBC and ITV before both air the final in July.
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For the full breakdown of what games are coming up check out our Euro 2020 fixtures on TV guide.
If you’re looking for something else to watch check out our TV Guide or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news.
