English football says no to VAR overhaul! FA chief confirms plans to block IFAB proposals to extend powers for video assistants

The International Football Association Board, which governs football's laws, was reportedly considering expanding VAR's powers to cover corners, penalties, and second yellow cards ahead of the 2026 World Cup. However, the FA - which has a seat at IFAB - has come out against the idea.

He told BBC Sport: "We don't think there's any need to extend the use of VAR. There are regular discussions in Ifab about what VAR should be, and how it should move forward. I think our position is that we're in a good place now. Of course if someone brings an item forward for Ifab to consider, then as a group we'll consider it. But as a group we don't necessarily think that VAR needs to be extended at the moment. We think there's enough interruptions to the game in the current model."

The report adds that IFAB has not received any proposals to consider widening VAR's scope and that multiple board members would 'oppose' any such proposal if it was submitted at its annual meeting in November. Reports suggested IFAB were considering 'radical' changes but that may be put on hold for now.

Handing VAR - which was brought in for the 2019/20 Premier League season - more responsibility has been on the cards for years but as it is not all that popular among fans, it may not gain a great deal of support. And for the time being, it seems such changes are not on the horizon.