There seems to be no greater confusion than the handball law. It has changed so many times in recent years that it has been pretty much impossible to keep up. Shearer did not even mention the contradictory accidental attacking handball law which automatically disallows a goal. There is a misconception that the handball law was changed for VAR, but it happened the other way around. The International Football Association Board (Ifab) started work on redefining handball in 2014 - two years before trials of VAR began.

Source: BBC March 05, 2026 08:22 UTC