ABSTRACT
The German Bundesliga was among the first competitions to participate in the VAR experiments, starting with offline tests in 2016 and live tests in the 2017/18 season. The course of those experiments, especially the live application, illustrated the challenges and problems that come with the introduction of technological officiating aids. This chapter gives a brief chronological summary of the VAR experiments in the Bundesliga, emphasizing the general development of the technological officiating aid itself, as well as short analysis of the most famous incidents that occurred during the experiments.
Those incidents included good applications of the VAR, bad ones, an overturn that was against the protocols, one incident that forced the players to interrupt the half-time break to come back on the field, and even incidents that were (unwarrantedly) connected to match-fixing rumours. Generally, the main controversies were caused by the standard of review (“clear and obvious errors”), the lack of virtual offside lines, and unfortunate communication of the involved organizations. Despite those issues, the VAR experiments were construed as a success by the league, leading to a permanent introduction in the Bundesliga. Nevertheless, the VAR in Germany is expected to remain an interesting issue for evaluative research.
