Premier League Match Centre update - MW4-7

The Premier League Match Centre team provides further information and context on the key operational and officiating themes from the match rounds leading up to the international break.

What is sustained holding?

A key talking point from Matchweek 7 was whether Virgil van Dijk had fouled Marc Guehi in the penalty area during Liverpool’s victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), who produces the Laws of the Game, clarifies that "a holding offence occurs only when a player’s contact with an opponent’s body or equipment impedes the opponent’s movement", while the threshold for an offence must be sustained and impactful holding, with a clear impact on the opponent’s opportunity to play or challenge for the ball. (See the below pages on Holding from the "Orange Handbook")

On this occasion, referee Simon Hooper waved play on, and therefore the VAR had to consider whether this was a clear and obvious error. As was referred to by Premier League Match Centre on X, the referee’s call of no penalty was checked by the VAR, who deemed that the challenge was not sustained holding and had no impact on the play. 

How are offside lines drawn?

In the Premier League, where an offside situation requires an offside line to be drawn, this is currently determined by the VAR using Hawk-Eye’s virtual offside line technology - this has two levels. 

Gridline

A two-dimensional line, which can be quickly positioned in line with the second last defender for offside decisions when the defender’s position can be determined using a foot in contact with the ground.

Crosshair

When relevant players are leaning, the offside lines are drawn against the parts of the body of attacking and defending players that can be used to score goals - these parts of the body are the same for all players, no matter their playing position.

The lines can also take into account parts of the body off the ground, which is shown as a 3D vertical line.

The process for positioning the crosshair line is manual, with a line one-pixel wide, so that the exact position of the offside line and the relevant body part can be accurately identified by the VAR.

Calibrated cameras

Before each match, Hawk-Eye calibrates multiple cameras to give numerous options when showing an offside decision in the event that a body part is covered in one camera.

For the Premier League, nine cameras are calibrated: the main wide camera, both 18-yard box cameras, four static 18-yard box cameras and both goal line cameras - the example below shows how the defender’s foot cannot be seen on the 18-yard box camera as it is blocked by another defender’s body. Therefore, the goal line camera was used as both the defender and attacking body parts could be clearly seen.

Hawk-Eye can also use any broadcast camera to identify the point of contact with the ball by the attacker and synchronises all cameras for this purpose.

What is serious foul play?

The topic of serious foul play came into focus when Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Tottenham Hotspur’s James Maddison in match round 6.

IFAB’s definition of serious foul play is ‘a tackle or challenge for the ball that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality; punishable by a sending-off’.

There are five considerations for serious foul play (as per the Orange Handbook)

After the referee, Chris Kavanagh, showed Fernandes a red card, the VAR had to consider whether this was a clear and obvious error. On this occasion, the VAR agreed with the referee’s call and didn’t intervene.

VAR errors and the high threshold for intervention

One common misconception is that VAR can achieve decision-making perfection. The independent Key Match Incident (KMI) panel was introduced in Season 2022/23, with the panel members responsible for providing analysis and an independent assessment of both on-field and VAR decisions.  

The KMI panel has deemed that there have been two VAR errors during the first seven match rounds of the 2024/25 season, a decrease from the 10 errors during the first seven rounds of the 2023/24 campaign.  

As a reminder, ahead of the 2024/25 Season, the Premier League confirmed its six-point VAR improvement plan. As part of this plan, Premier League officials operate with a high threshold for VAR intervention – the referee’s call will stand unless, in the opinion of the VAR, based upon the evidence readily available, that call is a clear and obvious error.

This high threshold helps keeps VAR delays to a minimum. The average VAR delay to Premier League matches in Season 2024/25 currently stands at 28 seconds per match, which is a large reduction on the average delay of 64 seconds per match across the whole of the 2023/24 campaign.