Stuart Attwell: Referee makes historic VAR announcement in Carabao Cup semi-final
Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool made history when referee Stuart Atwell announced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision inside the stadium.
It was the first time this had happened in England and Atwell explained why Dominic Solanke’s late goal for Tottenham was ruled out.
“It has been reviewed that Dominic Solanke was in an offside position,” he said over the PA system.
Despite this, Spurs scored through Lucas Bergvall in the 86th minute The first leg match was won 1-0.
The decision to make the announcement comes as part of a trial run for the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
As part of this, the referee will announce the final decision after accessing the VAR pitchside monitor, or when ruling on factual issues such as an accidental handball by the scorer and an offside foul by an attacker touching the ball.
Such announcements are common in other sports such as rugby and American football, with the system also being trialled during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The Premier League said at a meeting last summer that in-game VAR announcements would be implemented at some point this season.
