The Premier League will publish the full judgements of its Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel on referee and VAR decisions for the first time this season as part of a series of measures aimed at improving transparency.
The move is one of three initiatives introduced by the Premier League, alongside publishing direct explanations from match officials and expanding the use of RefCam to include audio of referees speaking to players.
The five-member KMI Panel has reviewed major incidents since the 2022-23 season, but its full judgements have previously remained private, with details sometimes emerging through clubs.
The panel assesses and votes on every major incident, with its findings shared with clubs and officials. Publishing the full judgements will, the Premier League believes, give supporters a clearer picture of how decisions are evaluated.
Selected direct quotes from referees and VARs will also be published on the Premier League's Match Centre account on X, as well as on its website and app. Rather than providing only a general summary of an incident, the Premier League will publish officials' explanations of their decisions and the reasoning behind VAR interventions—or decisions not to intervene.
The expanded use of RefCam will also allow fans to hear audio of conversations between referees and players for the first time. The footage will not be broadcast live and will not include communication between the referee and VAR, but it will be used once or twice during each round of fixtures.
The Premier League and refereeing body Pro Ref are seeking to improve transparency while remaining restricted by the International Football Association Board's (IFAB) refusal to allow live broadcasts of VAR discussions.
The Premier League says it will continue discussions with IFAB about making more VAR communication available to the public.
How the KMI Panel works
The KMI Panel meets every week to review major decisions, including goals, penalties and red cards.
It consists of five members: three former players or coaches, alongside representatives from the Premier League and Pro Ref.
The panel was established by Premier League clubs in 2022 to separate the assessment of refereeing performances from the refereeing body itself.
Its role is not simply to judge incidents as a supporter or manager might. The panel considers the Laws of the Game and, importantly, the standards and expectations applied to Premier League refereeing.
That helps explain why its list of errors can be shorter than the number of controversial incidents discussed by fans.
The panel first assesses the on-field decision before reviewing the VAR's involvement. Because VAR operates under the higher “clear and obvious” threshold, the panel can conclude that the referee made the wrong decision while the VAR was correct not to intervene.
The panel can also review incidents that fall outside VAR's remit, such as missed second-yellow-card offences.
A simple majority determines whether a decision was correct.
Judgements from last season, seen by BBC Sport, recorded 25 VAR errors, up from 18 in 2024-25. That figure was nevertheless an improvement on previous seasons, with 31 errors recorded in 2023-24 and 38 in 2022-23.
The judgements also include comments from panel members explaining the reasoning behind their conclusions.
The findings are additionally used to determine performance-related payments for referees at the end of each season.
