UEFA is announcing a significant expansion of the use of video assistant refereeing (VAR) in European Cup matches this season and next.
This season, the number of European Cup matches using VAR will increase, and next season it will increase even more. In the 2023/2024 season, VAR technology will be used in an additional 239 matches in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
The VAR system was successfully applied in the recent Champions League preliminary round matches in Iceland and will now be used across Europe in the upcoming 1st and 2nd qualifying rounds.
VAR technology will also be used for the first time in the Europa League and Conference League qualifiers. VAR will be used in the 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League and in the Conference League play-offs. This means a significant increase in the number of matches with VAR in these tournaments: in the Europa League, an increase of 26% (36 matches) is expected, and in the Conference League - by 311% (140 matches). For the latter tournament, this increase is due to the introduction of VAR in the group stage.
In the current Champions League, VAR will be used in all qualifying rounds for the first time, and the total number of matches in the tournament using this technology will increase by 63 compared to the 2022/2023 season, when VAR was not expected to be used until the third qualifying round.
As part of the new cycle of club tournaments, starting from the 2024/2025 season, VAR technology will continue to be used at all stages of the Champions League and will be introduced from the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Subject to an appropriate feasibility study, due to the large number of matches, VAR technology may also be introduced in the Conference League qualifying play-offs next season.
Since the introduction of VAR at the Champions League play-off stage in the 2018/2019 season, UEFA has played a total of 1648 matches with this technology in its club and national team tournaments.