Worst VAR decisions of 2023 – ranked

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker captured the innate, contradictory decision-making process of every football fan, player and manager when it comes to controversial calls from video assistant referees (VAR).

“I like it when it helps us out and I don’t like it when it doesn’t help us out,” Walker shrugged.

However, some of this year’s decisions made by the distant officials in Stockley Park have been so egregious they have transcended the fierce tribal aspect of football – at least among some onlookers.

Here are the worst VAR calls made in 2023.

It certainly looked like a challenge worthy of a red card to Brighton’s Evan Ferguson in this FA Cup clash. The entire Amex Stadium agreed and the guilt dripping from Fabinho’s face showed that even the offending Liverpool player thought his afternoon was over.

Seemingly referee David Coote and VAR Neil Swarbrick were the only spectators who did not deem Fabinho’s wild scything down of Ferguson worthy of a red card.

Fulham manager Marco Silva was booked in each of the first three games of the 2023/24 season for arguing with referees but had plenty of reason to complain about Nathan Ake’s opener for Manchester City in September.

“Everyone that has played football, who has some knowledge of football, knows 100% sure to disallow that goal,” Silva seethed. Fulham’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno was clearly distracted by an offside Manuel Akanji who was somehow not deemed to have been interfering with play.

Even City striker Erling Haaland admitted: “I think it was offside as well – I feel bad for them. I’d be fuming if I was them.”

Graham Potter mastered the art of a painfully bland press conference during his brief Chelsea tenure but cracked a rare joke in the wake of a damning error against his side.

With the seconds ticking away as Chelsea searched for an equaliser at the London Stadium, West Ham’s Tomas Soucek dropped to the knees to block Conor Gallagher’s low effort skidding towards the bottom corner. Soucek diverted the goal-bound shot away with his palm and Chelsea were denied a penalty based on the spurious reasoning that the midfielder had to put his arm on the ground to break his floor.

Potter wasn’t impressed with the officials but sarcastically praised Soucek. “It was a good save,” he sniped. “You need your goalkeeper sometimes to give you the points.”

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi was sent off for remonstrating too vociferously on the touchline before the biggest injustice of his side’s controversy-ridden clash against Tottenham Hotspur in April.

Kaoru Mitoma danced into the Spurs penalty area and was clearly trodden on by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. Bizarrely, referee Stuart Attwell waved play on while Mitoma sat befuddled on the turf. Refereeing governing body PGMOL felt compelled to apologise to Brighton for the error but that proved little consolation in the wake of a 2-1 defeat.

There must have been an unwanted sense of deja vu for Wolves boss Gary O’Neil as he watched on in disbelief from the Old Trafford touchline. Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana crashed into Sasa Kalajdzic in the sixth minute of stoppage time, getting nowhere near the ball but taking a meaty chunk out of the towering striker.

O’Neil, who had repeatedly found himself on the wrong end of controversial VAR calls while at Bournemouth last season, claimed that elite referees manager Jon Moss told him he “could not believe” the error.

Thomas Frank was moved to a near existential crisis by the baffling decision to deny his Brentford side what he described as a “clear penalty” against Nottingham Forest in October.

Yoane Wissa toed the ball away from Forest’s dozing goalkeeper Matt Turner. The sluggish American couldn’t halt his kick, connecting with the Brentford forward who quickly sprang back to his feet but couldn’t prevent Willy Boly from clearing his lines.

Reflecting on the incident, Frank wondered aloud: “Maybe our players are too honest. Maybe they need to be more nasty, but I’ll never say that to them. I like honest players.”

While Mike Dean frantically flicked through the available frames, Julen Lopetegui had already been presented with the damning footage. Toti Gomes had fired Wolves in front in the final ten minutes of an FA Cup clash with Liverpool but the assistant’s flag was raised.

Matheus Nunes was the alleged offending party but no replays made available to Dean in the VAR booth had the midfielder in frame. ITV’s camera operator had zoomed in too close to the penalty box at a corner, cutting Nunes out of shot and thereby removing any chance of drawing those famous lines.

However, Wolves’ tactical camera high in Anfield’s stands took in the entire field. Lopetegui confronted referee Andy Madley with this footage after the game but there was little the sheepish official could do by then.

De Zerbi had completely lost faith in England’s officials less than five months after he was appointed as Brighton’s manager. “I think the referees in the Premier League are not enough for this very important league,” the Italian sighed after yet another decision went against the Seagulls.

A two-hour meeting with PGMOL chief Howard Webb only compounded the dim view De Zerbi had of the Premier League’s referees in the wake of a particularly glaring error against Crystal Palace. VAR John Brooks judged Pervis Estupinan to have been offside when scoring for Brighton but drew the lines which informed his decision from the defender that wasn’t closest to Palace’s goal.

De Zerbi dispensed with Webb’s contact information and pledged: “One time I lost time with the meeting and it will never happen again.”

One of the last decisions that Lee Mason oversaw as a Premier League official must rank among the worst of his career. In a rush to check whether Ivan Toney’s equaliser against Arsenal in February should stand, Mason simply forgot to check whether every active Brentford player was onside.

Christian Norgaard had strayed beyond Arsenal’s backline before nodding the ball across to Toney but went unpunished by the officials. Mason was subsequently removed from VAR duty but that didn’t quell the sense of injustice raging with Mikel Arteta.

“I will only be satisfied if they give me the two points back which is not going to be the case,” the Arsenal boss fumed.

“Well done boys, good process.”

The inimitable line uttered by referee Simon Hooper has since entered footballing folklore, forever immortalised by a million memes.

The ‘good process’ conducted by VAR Darren England had rapidly established that Liverpool’s Luis Diaz was onside when putting the ball into Tottenham’s net in September. However, a miscommunication led the on-pitch officials to believe that the original offside decision should be allowed to stand.

Several expletives were uttered in the VAR booth but PGMOL kept it PG by describing the incident as a “significant human error”.

Controversially, England had been the VAR for a fixture in the UAE top flight held in Dubai the day before the Premier League match.

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