The Premier League reacts to damning survey results revealing that fans hate VAR, as calls grow for the technology to be scrapped.

Premier League officials have rebutted the FSA’s findings based on their own internal studies, which indicate that supporters are more in favor of improving the system rather than completely abolishing it. They argue that the high threshold set for intervention makes the English championship less intrusive than its European counterparts.

In an official statement, the Premier League stated: “In ongoing dialogue with supporters, research conducted by the Premier League suggests that fans are largely in favor of maintaining VAR, but want to improve how it is used.” They added: “VAR enables more accurate decisions to be made.”

Over the past few seasons, there have been around 100 justified VAR interventions per season – cases where goals would have otherwise been incorrectly awarded or denied, or red cards or penalties missed or wrongly given.

The league implements a high threshold for VAR intervention, with the referee’s decision being paramount. As a result, VAR is less intrusive in the Premier League than in other European leagues, including the Champions League, where VAR intervenes almost twice as often.”