I've written many times about the tolerance level in the VAR offside tech many times in the 4 and a half years it's been in place.

It applies to Florian Wirtz's goal for Liverpool against Fulham. #FULLIV

For instance: bbc.co.uk/sport/football… There's clearly arguments for and against a tolerance level, but Premier League clubs wanted it.

They were eager to avoid controversy like this in Germany.

The Bundesliga moved to SAOT at the start of the season and one of the early decisions was a millimetre VAR offside.

A thread on the Crystal Palace's Europa League demotion, outlining:

1) Why Palace broke the multi-club ownership rules
2) Why Palace's appeal had little chance of success
3) How precedent was key
4) Why the Forest Blind Trust was an irrelevance
5) Contradictions A lot of the coverage has, understandly, centred around Palace's case to get the ruling overturned.

Yet if you are to understand the story, you need to know the background.

And for that, UEFA's 2023 European Club Finance and Investment Landscape Report is very important.

UEFA has confirmed the seeding rule for the QF and SF of its competitions, including Champions League, for next season.

We knew draws were to be removed for QF and SF, but not the specifics of how the home team in the second legs would be determined.

Good one for Arsenal fans. Key theory:

Teams ranked 1-4 guaranteed to be at home in the QF.
Teams ranked 1-2 guaranteed to be at home in the SF.

However, if any of 1-4 are knocked out, seeding is not recalculated. Home advantage is effectively tied to the result of the round of 16, and then QF.

This does not bode well for Crystal Palace.

Drogheda also won the cup but are excluded from the Conference League due to ownership rules.

Sister club Silkeborg stay in because they finished 7th, with Drogheda (9th) removed.

https://twitter.com/McDonnellDan/status/1934646380594680256

The deadline for separating associated clubs into a blind trust was changed from June 1 to March 1 as of this year.

That's very harsh for a club such as Palace as they would have needed to do this after the FA Cup fourth round, which seems completely unrealistic.

REVEALED

The six non-English clubs in Pot 1 MUST play TWO Premier League clubs in the Champions League next season.

Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
PSG
Inter Milan
Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona

Impact is on these 6, rather than Prem teams.

HERE'S WHY 👇
espn.com/soccer/story/_… Last season, Pot 1 teams played eight games in the league phase against English clubs.

They recorded recorded two wins, a draw and five losses.

This season, the 6 must play 12 games to meet the draw constraints caused by 6 Prem teams in the comp + 3 in Pot 1.

That should have been a second yellow for Lucas Bergvall.

It wasn't an attempt to stop a promising attack, which wouldn't result in a caution if the move plays out.

It was a reckless tackle, and should have been a booking regardless of the attack. #TOTLIV Ange Postecoglu is incorrect for three reasons.

1. Bergvall's offence is a reckless tackle, not stopping a promising attack

2. Advantage isn't applied on a second yellow unless it's an IMMEDIATE goal chance

3. Ref didn't play advantage. Said no foul

Club World Cup explainer

🔺 How the 31 teams qualified
🔺 Inter Miami and Messi?
🔺 The old Club World Cup still exists!
🔺 Will it be competitive?
🔺 Player burnout?
🔺 Format
🔺 Match dates
🔺 Draw on Thursday
🔺 Venues
🔺 Trophy

READ 👇
espn.co.uk/football/story… Club World Cup draw pots now confrimed.

- No group can feature more than one team from the same confederation except UEFA, with 12 teams
- Pot 1 will have paired seedings based on the confederation rankings
- Pot 1 teams go to position 1
- Inter Miami will play the opening match

Ok, so FIFA has made a small, yet significant change to the protocols for the World Cup qualifying draw.

It could have an impact on each of the home nations, but potentially the greatest effect could be on Wales.

A thread to explain for the home nations. What's changed?

Previously, all Nations League (UNL) quarterfinal (QF) and playoff (PO) teams in Pots 2, 3 and 4 were to be "in priority allocated to groups of four."

This has been removed. These teams now could potentially be in a group of five.

You can see the edit here.

Had clarification of World Cup draw conditions. We know a few more things.

- England 75% chance of group of 5
- Wales definitely group of 5
- Northern Ireland 85.71% chance of group of 5
- Rep of Ireland & Scotland definitely group of 4

Thread to explain, and here are the pots. The specific conditions over the 4 and 5 team groups depended on the number of teams in each pot who needed a QF/playoff.

As the number is lower than 6 in pots 2 and 3, it can now be confirmed playoff teams in Pots 2 and 3 (Scotland, ROI) will definitely be in a group of 4.

Why don't leagues have a chip in the ball for semi-automated VAR offside?

🖥️ Tech by Kinexon
⚽️ Centre-mounted chip in ball developed & patented by Adidas
❌ No league uses Adidas

Adidas would need to share/licence, or other ball companies find an alternative to house chip. Who are the ball manufacturers for the different leagues?

Premier League (Nike this season, Puma from 2025-26)
LaLiga (Puma)
Bundesliga (Derbystar)
Serie A (Puma)
Ligue 1 (Kipsta)

Kinexon has worked with Adidas, Derbystar and Puma so far.

So, Atalanta win the Europa League.

That presents a host of questions about:

🔷 How many places in Champions League for Serie A
🔷 What happens to place in UCL for the UEL titleholders
🔷 What happens to seeding for the 2024-25 UCL, 👀 Barcelona

Pull up a chair a moment. 1. How many places will Serie A get in the Champions League?

We know Italy will have 5 teams in the UCL next season as they have one of the 2 extra places for league performance.

Atalanta are 5th. If they finish 5th, and 5th only, Italy will have 6 teams in the UCL.

Sick of keepers holding the ball for 30-40 seconds to waste time or slow down play?

The [unenforced] law says a keeper can only hold the ball for 6 seconds. Any longer and it's an indirect FK to the opposition.

We now have details of The IFAB trial to change it.

Thread. 👇 As well as wasting time, a goalkeeper holding the ball for too long is considered an unfair tactic because the opposing team has no possibility to regain possession.

That's because a goalkeeper cannot be challenged when in control of the ball with the hand(s).

Mauro Icardi's offside in Galatasaray vs. Manchester United gives us a good illustration of how semi-automated technology will be more accurate and reliable - yet may lead to more goals being disallowed.

This was ruled out on the field, but stay with me. There's a common misconception that handball starts at the bottom of the sleeve.

This isn't the case.

It's the arm point level with the armpit - if you had it by your side - around the whole arm.

Basically, the area of the arm which can't increase body size if you move it.

Ok, here's the nuts and bolts.

This is what happened with the Luis Diaz "goal" which Liverpool had disallowed vs. Tottenham.

There will be a deeper dive in the Monday VAR thread, but in simple terms the VAR took the wrong onfield decision - it led to the goal being disallowed. So the VAR, Darren England, checked offside thinking the onfield decision was "goal."

It was a quick offside check because it was clear Diaz was onside, so he told the referee "check complete".

In telling the ref "check complete" he is saying the onfield decision was correct.

So the dust has settled on the first VAR audio show of the year with Howard Webb.

Time for a little old-school VAR thread to go through it.

I'll include the video clips. We got 2 of the 3 big errors in the Premier League this season - the penalty not given against Andre Onana vs. Wolves + the offside goal Man City scored against Fulham.

It didn't include Alexis Mac Allister's red card, which has been the main point of complaint in my comments.

Getting lots of comments about Lee Mason's return to PGMOL, and they're fair. I'm surprised too.

But he isn't working in the Premier League, he will be a coach in League One and League Two.

PGMOL is reducing the ratio of coaches to referees, so a lot of roles have been created. Bottom line is everyone who is appointed as a coach is going to be a former ref, and Lee Mason was obviously vastly experienced.

I've no idea if he will be good as a coach, after a pretty dismal end to his career on the pitch and in the VAR room, but understand the reaction.

FIFA publishes the top 10 international player transfers by total transfer fee in 2022.

Includes:
Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez to Liverpool
Antony, Casemiro to Man United
Erling Haaland to Man City
Alexander Isak to Newcastle
Raphinha to Barcelona

(list is not in fee order) The domination of English football in the transfer market laid bare.

The top 5 country-to-country transfer routes are all to England.

France to England the most lucrative market in 2022.

UEFA has announced a new format for the UEFA Nations League from 2024, expanding slightly with additional playoffs.

The next edition will begin in September 2024, and will mean a slightly modified qualification format for World Cup/Euros qualifying.

Details within. First, a new playoff format.

Final 4 now becomes a final 8, featuring 1st and 2nd from League A.

Quarterfinals (2 legs), 1st vs 2nd, take place in March 2025.

The final four (1 leg) will then be held in June 2025.

There are also new promotion/relegation playoffs (2 legs).

2022-23 VAR STATS THREAD

Overturns: 61
Rejected: 3
+Goals: 19
-Goals: 24
Pens: 16 (6 missed)
~for handball: 7
~overturned: 8
~retakes: 1
Disallowed offside: 15
Allowed after offside: 8
Disallowed handball: 2
Disallowed foul: 7
Reds: 3
~overturned: 2
espn.com/soccer/english… VAR STATS (cont)

Season-on-season VAR frequency (interventions per game):

2022-23: 0.32
2021-22: 0.32
2020-21: 0.32
2019-20: 0.29

VAR overturns rejected by referee at monitor:

2022-23: 3
2021-22: 0
2020-21: 5
2019-20: 0

The VAR must find definitive proof t
ref was wrong.

Not about finding clear evidence of a handball, but unequivocal evidence of no handball. Ref won't be sent to the monitor without it.

Remember, any touch on the arm, even accidental, is an offence.

We might feel that the probability is the ball didn't touch the arm of Joelinton, but the VAR cannot work on probabilities.

I don't think there's really the evidence for the VAR, Andre Marriner, to overturn the decision of the referee, Stuart Attwell.

We need to clear up a few things on the disallowed Antoine Griezmann goal.

It's turned into quite the mess, with the French FA complaining the goal was disallowed after Tunisia kicked off (which isn't possible by VAR protocol).

So, do France have a case? #TUNFRA #FIFAWorldCup This all boils down to whether the referee, Matthew Conger of New Zealand, gave Tunisia permission to kickoff.

Because Tunisia did kickoff, and Conger instantly blew the final whistle.

But if Conger hasn't signalled Tunisia to restart, it's meaningless.