What’s new in the Premier League this season? Live VAR updates, handball, more

It’s not even a month since Spain captain Álvaro Morata and Argentina skipper Lionel Messi held aloft the Euro 2024 and Copa América trophies, yet we’re about to usher in the new Premier League season.

It all kicks off on Friday when Manchester United host Fulham at Old Trafford, which will be the first match to be played following a collection of tweaks to certain areas of the laws.

Are we still going to see extended injury time? will understanding handball continue to require a masters degree? And what on earth is going to happen with VAR?

We’ve pulled it all together into this one-stop guide to everything that’s changed.

Live VAR updates

What’s changing?
At long last the Premier League has launched a Twitter account to provide real-time information on VAR interventions. What took it so long?

The account will provide “factual explanations of on-pitch refereeing decisions and the involvement of the video assistant referee (VAR) including the role of technology in the decision-making process.”

The Premier League is to mirror the approach of UEFA at Euro 2024 by displaying this expanded information on the big screens at grounds. Referees will not, initially at least, announce their decision to the crowd — although there are plans for a pilot scheme later in the season.

And there is another good move. Replays will be shown at stadiums of all goals disallowed on the field which have been supported by the VAR, and of goals which have been scored but are the subject of a delay for a VAR check. So, when fans are forced to stand around waiting for a goal check there will now be video evidence. However, this will be at the end of a check, not live, and it will not stretch to possible penalties or red cards.

Welcome to the Premier League Match Centre X account. This page will provide live updates from Stockley Park including information directly from the VAR Hub. We will issue near-live updates on operational matters from all matches – including clarification on refereeing and VAR.

— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) August 13, 2024

Do you have an example?
One suggested wording is: “The on-field decision for a potential handball by Silva was no penalty. The VAR checks and clears the decision, deeming that the ball came off Silva’s chest. #MCIFUL.”

Is it a positive change?
The Twitter account won’t offer an opinion on whether a decision is correct or incorrect, so don’t expect PGMOL to accept mistakes on this feed. It will purely provide the facts.

It should remove some of the information vacuum that existed after a controversial situation, especially where fans believed it hadn’t even been looked at.

The Premier League has lagged behind some other leagues in this respect, with the Bundesliga having provided live updates on Twitter since the start of the 2021-22 season. LaLiga has gone a step further, releasing the audio of each VAR incident within hours of the matchday being completed.

Is it going to be enough? Not really. It’s still against the protocols of International Football Association Board (IFAB, football’s lawmaking body) to broadcast the VAR audio during matches, though the Premier League is lobbying to change this.

The move to show replays on all goal decisions should help with acceptance.

“Referee’s Call”

What’s changing?
You’re going to hear this phrase a lot throughout the season, because the Premier League wants to promote it effectively as a replacement “clear and obvious error.” It’s part of a six-point plan to improve VAR.

Is it a positive change?
Let’s be honest, it’s the same thing with another name. We’re still talking about the referee’s on-pitch decision carrying the weight as the basis for a VAR intervention.

The Premier League is eager to move the discussion on VAR to a different place, to make it clear it’s the referee who has the power.

But the “high bar” on VAR interventions remains in place, so don’t expect additional trips to the pitchside monitor.

Semi-automated offside technology

Semi-automated VAR offside technology (SAOT) is coming, but not quite yet. The Premier League is switching to a new technology partner, Second Spectrum, and further tests are needed to make sure SAOT is robust.

For now, we’re stuck with the VAR placing the lines manually onto the TV pictures. SAOT is scheduled to arrive after one of the three international breaks before Christmas, most probably in October. Premier League clubs decided that bringing it in midseason, as Serie A did in January 2023, is better than waiting until the 2025-26 campaign.

What’s changing?
SAOT automatically maps the players using bespoke cameras under each stadium roof. There will be no waiting around for the VAR to work this part out.

The Premier League expects the average VAR check for offside to be 31 seconds quicker. There will still be some longer ones when there’s a question about passive offside, for instance when the player in an offside position hasn’t touched the ball. And in some situations where players are hidden the old tech might have to be used.

We’ll also get new graphics to show the offside decision, as seen at the Euros and in the Champions League.

Is it a positive change?
Undoubtedly. As we saw at Euro 2024, quick and efficient offside checks give more confidence in the system. The visualisation of the outcome is much clearer, too, and it should reduce perceived errors. As with goal-line technology, if a computer is making the decision rather than a person, there tends to be greater acceptance.

That said, we’ll see more marginal offsides as SOAT doesn’t have the tolerance level that’s present in the current tech, due to a higher level of accuracy.

But alas, this version of SAOT won’t be as rapid as Euro 2024.

Adidas, UEFA’s partner, owns the patent for how the sensor sits in the middle of the ball. Adidas doesn’t supply balls to any of the major European leagues so, for now, there will be no sensor to determine the kick point — the VAR will still have to do this manually. It means SAOT in the domestic leagues cannot be as fast as Euro 2024.

This season is Nike’s last with the Premier League, with Puma supplying the ball as of next season. If Puma (also the partner of LaLiga and Serie A) wants to add a sensor then it must develop its own method of housing it, which produces reliable SAOT results and doesn’t affect the performance of the ball. Adidas had the help of FIFA to finance this work.

Handball law relaxed — slightly

If you were expecting a massive overhaul of handball to make it more understandable to players, coaches and fans alike, you’re going to be disappointed.

There’s one small change, which is intended to remove a small number of soft penalties.

However, the Premier League does want referees in general to be more lenient and fully take into account a player’s justifiable arm position for their movement.

What’s changing?
If there is a deflection off the foot or body that clearly alters the trajectory of the ball and it hits the arm, there will be no handball offence — even if the arm is extended away from the body or above the head.

The logic is that a player cannot be gaining an advantage with the arm if the deflection takes the ball in a completely different direction to that of the original shot or cross.

However, if there is only a small deflection, so the ball doesn’t deviate much, a penalty can still be awarded.

Do you have an example?
Early into last season, Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O’Neil was incensed when João Gomes conceded a penalty at Luton. A shot by Issa Kaboré had deflected off the foot of Gomes and hit the Wolves’ player’s arm, which was in an unnatural position directly above his head. Referee Josh Smith gave the penalty, which was supported by the VAR and, by the interpretation of the law at the time, it wasn’t an incorrect decision. The only exemption for handball covered a player deliberately kicking or heading the ball, and it then hitting their arm. A deflection wasn’t part of this exemption.

We’ve been here before. It existed in the Premier League guidance of the 2020-21 season, albeit in different wording, where it was noted that it’s a handball offence if “a deflection clearly makes no difference to the ball touching a hand/arm that is clearly extended away from the body and/or above the shoulder.”

So, when is a deflection off the body still handball? Robin Koch conceded a penalty for Leeds United at Liverpool at the start of that 2020-21 campaign when a shot brushed his thigh but hit his arm, which was extended away from his body. This will still be a spot kick.

When the IFAB updated the handball law in the summer of 2021, the clause was removed from the guidance — and that led us down the path of handball decisions such as that suffered by Gomes. Now it’s back.

Handball exemptions in the Premier League:
– Justifiable position/action
– Supportive arm when player falls
– Player kicks or head the ball onto their own arm
– Clear change of trajectory when touched by, or deflected from, the same player
– Played by a teammate
– Proximity

Is it a positive change?
The biggest controversies in recent times have come from the unexpected, those decisions which appear to be unjust, and handball has been front and centre.

This small change isn’t going to fix all the ills of the handball law, which is very difficult to apply consistently, but at least the frequency of the harshest decisions should be reduced.

Encroaching (Penalty kick)

The law used to simply say that any encroaching into the penalty area was an offence, and it was seldom penalised in non-VAR games even if by the letter of the law one player having a foot inside the box was an offence.

Yet in VAR competitions encroaching was always checked but, to limit interventions, only being picked up if the player had a material impact on the outcome of the kick. It was a two-tier law.

What’s changing?
The game will now adopt the same interpretation as VAR.

The IFAB said: “[Encroaching] can easily be identified by the video assistant referee, and if Law 14 were to be applied strictly, most penalty kicks would be retaken. Since encroachment rarely affects the outcome of the kick (only if the ball rebounds into play), the same principle should apply to player encroachment as to goalkeeper encroachment, i.e. it is penalised only if it has an impact.”

This in itself won’t make any difference to VAR leagues, but the scope of “impact” has been tightened — and this is the big change as it will result in fewer retaken spot kicks.

What do we mean by that? Well, before this season if an encroaching attacking player scored a goal on a rebound and there was also a defender who had encroached anywhere else in the box, there would be a retake. In effect, the attacking team received a second attempt at the penalty as a result of their own player’s offence — because of the inconsequential actions of a defender.

Now, if an encroaching attacker scores after a save or rebound off the post, and any encroaching defender hasn’t impacted the play by, for instance, trying to challenge for the ball, it will be an indirect free kick to the defending team — not a retake.

The same concept applies if an encroaching defender clears a rebound and there’s no attacker anywhere near him. His encroaching has not impacted the outcome because a striker is not in a position to play the loose ball.

Do you have an example?
Incredibly, there hasn’t been a retaken penalty in the Premier League for attacking encroachment for almost three years. The last time it happened was in November 2021, in a game between Watford and Manchester United. Ismaïla Sarr saw his penalty saved by David De Gea, with Kiko Femenía scoring on the rebound. Femenía was encroaching and put the ball into the net unchallenged, so he was the only player impacting the outcome. This coming season the restart would have been a free kick to Man United rather than a retaken penalty.

The last time there was a retaken penalty for encroaching by an outfield player was in April 2021, when Leicester City defender Caglar Söyüncü cleared after Kasper Schmeichel had saved a spot kick from Wilfried Zaha.

Is it a positive change?
It’s largely cosmetic as VAR leagues have always operated this way. But removing the possibility of an attacking team benefitting from encroachment on a VAR intervention is positive.

Denying an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO)

OK, so this is going to be a difficult one to explain and because there are no obvious examples to cite; the chances of us ever seeing it in action are pretty slim.

Getting a DOGSO red card for a challenge is pretty difficult these days. It effectively has to be a non-footballing action, such as holding or pulling. If you make an attempt to play the ball, or even challenge an opponent for the ball and its in the general vicinity, you are only going to get a yellow card. See Rodri‘s yellow card when giving a penalty away in Spain vs. Croatia at the Euros.

Effectively, the intention of the defender has to be to deliberately foul the attacker, and DOGSO handball is going to be treated the same.

What’s changing?
The IFAB has brought DOGSO handball inside the penalty area in line with a tackle, to reduce the chance of being sent off. Up until this summer, any handball which stopped a goal, or a prevented a goal-scoring chance, would result in a penalty and a red card. Now, it will be a yellow card unless it’s deliberate.

Deliberate handball + DOGSO = penalty + red card

Non-deliberate handball yet body unjustifiably bigger + DOGSO = penalty + yellow card

So if a player has his arm out and the ball hits it, it would be a yellow card. If the player has moved his arm to the ball, it’s a red.

Do you have an example?
Well, this one’s tricky, because it’s such a narrow definition. The arm must be unjustifiably extended away from the body, and there be no movement of the arm.

It’s easier to provide an example of situations which would remain a red card. Take the red card for Chelsea‘s Reece James at Liverpool a couple of seasons ago — that would still be a dismissal as it was deemed deliberate. Indeed, without the movement of the arm it wouldn’t be a penalty even in previous seasons because the arm was close to the body.

Is it a positive change?
Think of this as a tidying up of the law for consistency, as we may not see it in practice this season.

Added time

Euro 2024 was like going back in time, with three to four minutes for stoppages at the end of games. It followed a season in English football, and across Europe, where many matches ran into the 100th minute.

UEFA appears to have some kind of secret solution, because the Champions League and the Euros managed to have just under 60 minutes of effectively playing time despite adding on no more time.

It was successful in the Premier League last season, in that it added an extra five minutes of the ball being in play from 53 minutes to 58 minutes — closer to a target of an hour.

The Premier League will continue to add on lots of time — but with a small modification.