Will there be VAR at the 2026 World Cup?

Since it was first introduced into the game nearly a decade ago, the use of a video assistant referee (VAR) has remained one of the most contentious topics in all of football.

Intended to limit the influence of human error in officiating, VAR has merely shifted the focus of the debate around controversial decisions rather than removing them entirely.

The influence VAR has had on the sport since its introduction has been wide-ranging, affecting both players and fans, as well as the officials themselves.

Whereas once the referee's whistle was the only assurance necessary that a strike that had crossed the line was indeed a goal, now teams face an anxious wait as potential infractions in the lead-up to the goal are analysed in detail.

The 2018 World Cup in Russia became the first international tournament to utilise the technology, with a total of 335 incidents checked during the group stages alone.

More than eight years later it is difficult to imagine football without video assisted refereeing but will it feature this summer in North America?

Is VAR in use at the 2026 World Cup?

VAR will once again be in use for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Prior to the commencement of the tournament FIFA confirmed that a host of changes to the VAR protocol, allowing officials greater scope to review incidents on the pitch including the following.

• A corner kick awarded incorrectly by the on-field officials, but only if overturning the decision doesn't delay the restart.

• Any example of the on-field official incorrectly punishing a player for a foul committed by another player. (Think Kieran Gibbs' sending off against Chelsea in 2014)

• Any fouls that are committed before the ball is in-play. (E.g. fouls committed inside the penalty box before a corner has been taken)

• A player being shown a red card for two bookable offences if the second offence clearly isn't correct.

Semi-automated offsides are also set to be introduced, with the goal of allowing decisions to be made faster and meaning that an assistant referee will be able to raise their flag immediately rather than waiting for a move to play out.

Assistant referees will be sent real-time audio alerts if a player is more than 10cm offside. This is a significant improvement on previous iterations of the technology that could only detect when a player strayed more than 50cm offside.