Controversial Accidental Handball Rule Won't Be In Use At Euro 2020

Goals at Euro 2020 will not be ruled out if an attacker accidentally handles the ball in the build up to a goal, UEFA have confirmed.

Last season the rule, that means any contact between ball and arm in the build up to a goal would see it disallowed, became extremely unpopular.

Fulham's disallowed strike vs Spurs in March, where the ball was kicked at Mario Lemina's arm in the build up, caused huge controversy when VAR ruled it out.

Following that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) made changes for the rule to change next season, starting in July, but tournaments have been allowed to take it up earlier.

Chairman of UEFA's referees' committee, Roberto Rosetti, has now confirmed that the Euros will be implementing the new rule, which will please fans who hate VAR.

"The way the law has been rewritten is more according to the spirit of football and gives players the freedom to play football," the Italian said.

VAR will not be disallowing as many goals at the Euros. Image: PA Images

As well has the change in handballs, Rosetti also said that there will have to be 'clear evidence' for a ref to disallow a goal at the tournament, including offsides.

"A few months ago Pep Guardiola said 'I can accept a mistake made by the referee on the field of play, I cannot accept a mistake made by the VAR in front of the video'. This is true. He's right," Rossetti added.

"We cannot disallow the goal for offside if we have no evidence it is offside.

"We want clear evidence to disallow goals - that's it. For factual decisions we want interventions just if it's clear."

Television viewers will be shown the infamous offside lines that are 'drawn' onto the image when making offside decisions, however, unlike in the Premier League, they will only be shown the final image and not the working out.

"Football is about controversial moments and it is not always easy to define the line of intervention for our VARs. We are consistent in our application of VAR intervention. We want to intervene when something is very clear," Rossetti added on VAR.

"UEFA believes in this project (VAR). We really believe it is an important help for the referees. Not only for the referees but an important help for football. Of course we need to use this project in the correct way, it can also be a dangerous project.

"We need to be careful, we need to be clear. We need to follow the principles of the laws of the game. We want to continue to use VAR only for clear and obvious mistakes."

Topics: Football, Euro 2020, Referees, UEFA, VAR

Ryan Sidle

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