What’s happening to the referees in the first season with the new designator? Is VAR still needed or can it be abolished? Here is the list of uncorrected refereeing errors in this championship.
The referee on the pitch decides, having a central role and full powers to exercise. The VAR is confined to a tool to be used only in exceptional cases, possibly never. The exasperation of the concept of football that is not the Playstation, words pronounced by the head whistleblower of UEFA, Roberto Rosettiexcept to be contradicted by the numbers given that in the last season the Champions League had percentages of video reviews equal if not higher than the rest of the top leagues in Europe, excluding England.
The landing of Daniele Orsato at the helm of CAN in the year after the end of the Rocchi era changed the rules for Italian football. For better or worse? The balance will have to be drawn at the end of the season, but some reflections can also be made during the course of the work by opening an observatory on how much the new refereeing course is costing in terms of errors (those evident to all).
The premise is that the enormous benefit on the fluidity of the game and on the increase in effective time depends directly on the innovations introduced by Ifab with the World Cup: countdown and no downtime for goal kicks, laterals and substitutions as well as the ‘punishment’ of leaving your team inferior in the event of interruptions due to injuries that did not deserve stopping the game. Tools not available to referees and designators until June 30ththerefore (positive) outcomes not attributable to any method or choice of threshold for blowing the whistle or not.
Also because the statistics also reveal other aspects that are worth keeping in mind to evaluate the work of the Orsato refereeing team in this championship. For example, the average of fouls called in the five years of the Rocchi era – often indicated as excessive and far from European standards – was 24.13 per game (given on 1,900 matches). That of the 2025/2026 championship, the highest of the five-year period, reached 25.24. After the 5th day of the current Serie A we are at 22.66: less, but in a statistically irrelevant manner.
It is equally indisputable that the decision-making attitude with which the referees govern the matches has reduced the desire of the players to protest to the bone, fewer crowds are seen, and also to accentuate the consequences of robust but considerable contacts in the game. And the errors? While waiting for a return to the transparency of a communication channel to explain one’s decisions (Open Var or other, there is no going back), the feeling is that the errors have also disappeared. It’s not like that. Here is the list of clear decisions taken incorrectly on the pitch and not amended at VAR. Day by day. Avoiding episodes without the possibility of protocol review or those of a subjective nature and open to evaluation.
Refereeing errors 1st matchday Serie A
- Genoa-Napoli 0-2 (Di Bello – Manganiello/Meraviglia): De Bruyne goal spoiled by push on Vazquez (No OFR)
- Turin-Milan 1-2 (Zufferli – Mazzoleni/Santoro): Handball by Vlasic on a Cissé cross (No OFR)
- Roma-Fiorentina 4-0 (Marcenaro – Abisso/Giua): Manata Hermoso on Mastantono starting APP 1st goal (no OFR)
Refereeing errors 2nd matchday Serie A
- Fiorentina-Frosinone 0-3 (Collu – Prontera/Ghersini): Dragusin trip on Monterisi not sanctioned (no OFR)
- Fiorentina-Frosinone 0-3 (Collu – Prontera/Ghersini): Double blow (punch) Jimenez on Bracaglia (no OFR)
Refereeing errors 3rd matchday Serie A
- Cagliari-Lecce 1-0 (Sacchi – Piccinini/Mazzoleni): Gagliardini trips N’Dri with time expired (no OFR)
- Juventus-Milan 1-1 (Mariani – Fabbri/Camplone): Step on foot De Winter on Kolo Muani starting APP 1st goal (no OFR)
Refereeing errors 4th matchday Serie A
- Como-Parma 2-1 (Mucera – Giua/Mazzoleni): Caqueret harsh intervention on Britschgi, only booked (no OFR)
Refereeing errors 5th matchday Serie A
- Bologna-Turin 1-1 (Guide – Santoro/Camplone): Heggem trips Oristanio to the net (no OFR)
- Fiorentina-Napoli 1-1 (Duties – Gariglio/Pezzuto): Extended Dragusin hold on Hojlund (no OFR)
- Juventus-Atalanta 2-0 (Zufferli – Marini/Giua): Kalulu shirt retained on Rowe thrown to the net (no OFR)
