FC Augsburg backs fan protests for VAR abolition

FC Augsburg, a German Bundesliga club, has voiced support for fan protests against the video assistant referee (VAR) system. Michael Ströll, the club's managing director, stated that the team understands and shares the fans' perspective on VAR.

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We can understand the fans' perspective because we feel the same way in many respects.

Ströll explained that while VAR was introduced to make football fairer, it often shifts discussions from on-field refereeing decisions to the video referee's calls. He noted that VAR frequently generates new debates rather than resolving existing ones, diminishing the game's emotional core. "The emotions are left by the wayside, whereby the basic idea of this wonderful game suffers considerable damage," Ströll said.

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In practice, however, we often shift the problem from discussing the referee's decision to discussing the video referee.

Fans of various clubs are planning significant protests during the upcoming DFB-Pokal matches, calling for the complete abolition of VAR. Their appeal emphasizes a desire to return to a more authentic, immediate, and emotional style of football. Ströll echoed this sentiment, suggesting that the initial concept of VAR was sound, but its practical implementation over the past nine years has failed to meet expectations, leaving too much room for interpretation.

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We have seen in recent years that the VAR often creates new discussions instead of solving old ones.

While VAR technology is not being used in the first round of the DFB-Pokal due to technical and financial costs, it will be implemented from the second round onwards. Previously, VAR was only utilized from the round of 16.

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The emotions are left by the wayside, whereby the basic idea of this wonderful game suffers considerable damage.