Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published Monday, May 11, 2026 10:51 p.m. / Updated Monday, May 11, 2026 11:52 p.m.
The CFR Cluj – Craiova University 0-0 scandal, played on May 8, broke out following a VAR decision that canceled a possible penalty for Cluj in the 51st minute. During an attack by the Transylvanians, Andrei Cordea shot, and the ball hit the Craiova defender Adrian Rus in the hand inside the box.
The referee Istvan Kovacs waited for the analysis from the VAR room to award a possible penalty, but after about five minutes of checks, the VAR referee Marcel Bîrsan signaled an offside to Lorenzo Biliboc in the phase leading up to the goal.
The decision provoked strong reactions, especially as offside was determined to be only 3 centimeters apart and TV replays were inconclusive.
Vassaras explained how the offside VAR analysis works
The CCA has published extensive material in which it has attempted to clarify how an offside phase is checked using VAR technology.
“In accordance with the Communication Strategy of the Central Commission of Referees, the president Kyros Vassaras presents explanations regarding the situation in the match played on Friday evening”, the Romanian Football Federation sent.
Kyros Vassaras, head of CCA, stated that the analysis was carried out with the VAR system approved and certified by FIFA and IFAB, used in domestic competitions with the agreement of League 1 clubs and the Federation.
“With the return of the mobile unit (VOR) and its technical equipment we have created the following video to help the football world understand how we proceed in these situations.”
Using the images from the cameras available to detect offside, the operator identifies, with the consent of the VAR, the point where the player touches the ball (kick-point).
The VAR then indicates to the operator the defender and striker closest to the goal line so that he can check whether or not there is an offside position.”
Vassaras also explained what happens when two defenders are very close.
“If two defenders are positioned close to each other, the points of their bodies closest to the goal line are checked and identified.“
Kyros Vassaras: “The computer gives the final verdict”
Vassaras insisted that the lines are not drawn manually by the referees, but generated automatically by the official system.
“The system then calculates and displays the exact distance between these points and thus begins the process of identifying the offside line.
When there is an offside, that part of the field is red. This indicates that the attacker is in an offside position and, in relation to the penultimate defender, at a distance calculated in millimeters. Player lines are created automatically by the system and are not moved or drawn by anyone else.”
Vassaras compared the VAR system with television graphics
The CCA president wanted to point out that the systems used in TV studios do not have the same accuracy as the official VAR technology.
“TV analysis systems mostly use a two-dimensional projection on the video image. In contrast, the official VAR system is based on triangulation, a complex mathematical method that uses the coordinates of several cameras simultaneously to create a true 3D perspective of the pitch.“
He also explained why the lines drawn on TV can look different than the official ones.
“A line drawn on TV can appear crooked or wrong precisely because it does not take into account the distortion of the lenses and the shooting angle relative to the ground.
“In the situation in question, the striker is in an offside position and the result, after the analysis carried out by the VAR officials and the operator, was correct“, Vassaras, the president of the CCA, said, according to frf.ro.
