Historic ruling in Belgium: for the first time a match is replayed after a scandalous VAR error

The disciplinary commission of Belgian Football Federation ordered this Friday the replay of a match of the first division championship of this country between the Anderlecht and Genkplayed on December 23rd to correct an error made by the VAR and the referee of this meeting, which will be cancelled.

The decision, very unusual in the world of football, responds to a lawsuit brought by Genkwho ended up losing the match 2-1, and who denounced a poor application of the rules for a penalty in their favor which ended in a goal but which the referee of the match, Nathan Verboomensentenced to annulment, in the 22nd minute and with the score 0-0, after examining the VAR.

In a statement, Genk announced, as an injured club, the decision of the Federation’s disciplinary commission to replay the matchwhich must be taken back from the moment of the mistake, arguing that Verboomen made a mistake “in the application of the rules” and it “influenced the development of the party”as the error was not corrected even by the video VAR referee room.

The controversy arose due to an invasion of the area by the Genk player Bryan Heynen took the penalty: the Anderlecht goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichelhe managed to save the maximum penalty without managing to block the ball, and the rebound was captured by another attacker of the rival team, Yira Sorwho finished and scored in the second instance.

However, The goal was disallowed because Sor had entered the area prematurelyand the referee gave the ball to Anderlecht to restart play with an indirect free kick.

The mistake lies in the fact that neither the referee on the pitch nor the person in charge of the VAR room realized that, before the penalty was taken, an Anderlecht player had also invaded the area, Yari Verschaerenwhich should have imposed the repetition of the maximum penalty in favor of Genk.

The regulation establishes that, if a penalty ends up in the net, it must be repeated when a player from the attacking team and another from the defending team invade the area prematurely.

Initially, the Belgian Football Federation’s refereeing department decided on January 8 that there was no reason to replay the match, considering that it had been a refereeing error “in the appreciation of a fact of the game” and not “in the application of the rules of the game”according to the Belgian news agency.

Genk appealed the decision and now the Federation’s disciplinary commission has ruled in his favor, although Anderlecht intends to analyze whether the matter can still be appealed to another body, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported, citing club sources.

Genk, for its part, hopes so “Soon we will find a date to get back into the game”as they expressed in their statement