VAR in Scottish football: What games are affected, what incidents will be checked, where is Clydesdale House?

Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology will be introduced to Scottish football later this month as Hibs take on St Johnstone at Easter Road. Here’s all you need to know…

When is VAR starting in Scottish football?

The first match to be played with VAR will be Hibs’ home cinch Premiership clash with St Johnstone on Friday October 21. The remaining top-flight games on Saturday October 22 will also have VAR in operation, with Hearts’ home game against Celtic at lunchtime the first televised Scottish Premiership game to use the new system.

VAR will be operated in line with the FIFA Laws of the Game using Hawk-Eye technology and every top-flight game will be covered by at least six cameras, boosting the quality and coverage of the league.

Wasn’t VAR supposed to be brought in after the World Cup?

That was the original plan, yes – but clubs were in favour of bringing it in as soon as possible, and the Scottish FA has introduced it ahead of schedule after getting the green light from FIFA following nearly three years of planning, development, and testing.

Is it just for Premiership games?

The only league games to use VAR will be Scottish Premiership fixtures but the technology will also be in place for all semi-final and final matches in the Scottish Cup and Premier Sports Cup played at Hampden.

Hibs' home game against St Johnstone will be the first Scottish Premiership game to be played with VAR

Where are the video assistant referees working from?

Additional officials will be based in the video operations room at Clydesdale House in Glasgow’s Merchant City, from where they will assist on-field referees in the event of ‘a clear and obvious error, or serious missed incident’.

Great. So what constitutes a ‘clear and obvious error or serious missed incident’?

There are four main areas that will come under VAR’s jurisdiction: straight red cards, penalty-area incidents, goals, and cases of mistaken identity.

What has the head of referees said?

Crawford Allan: “We are delighted to have received approval to introduce VAR in Scottish football. We have worked extensively over a near three-year

period to get to this point, have tested in every cinch Premiership stadium as part of the training process, and we are ready to go.

“As we have seen across the world, VAR has helped ensure a higher percentage of on-field refereeing decisions are accurate and that is a principle our match officials support.

“I am grateful to the match officials who have given up their time to take part in the training programme and I would like to thank our VAR working group and our key partners at the SPFL, and in particular its Chief Operating Officer Calum Beattie, for his help throughout the development phase, as well as the cinch Premiership clubs who have all been supportive and engaged in the process.

“Hawk-Eye and QTV also deserve praise for their technological expertise in creating a world-class VAR centre here at Clydesdale House.”

What has SPFL chief Calum Beattie said?

“VAR exists to increase the accuracy of refereeing decision-making and while the experience of other leagues demonstrates that implementation will not be straightforward, we are all committed to assisting the Scottish FA to help it bed in as quickly as possible over the next few months.

“Following the announcement of the biggest television deal in the history of Scottish football with Sky Sports, this is yet another step forward for the game in Scotland.

“The cinch Premiership is currently 8th in the UEFA coefficient rankings thanks to the recent success of our clubs in UEFA competitions and this development brings us into line with other comparable European Leagues.”