1 / 3 today
⚖ VAR Verdict · Case #201

Spain vs Argentina

FIFA World Cup · 2025/2026 · 2026-07-19 · 1-0 (AET)

Correct medium confidence
Goal cancelled — foul in build-up
🗳️ Community verdict — vote now 5 votes needed for verdict

OURVAR judged the referee's decision: Correct. You're voting on whether OURVAR's analysis is right — not on the referee.

Do you agree with OURVAR's verdict?

Every vote helps sharpen OURVAR's accuracy — and we're grateful for it. The AI isn't infallible, and your verdict is exactly what improves it, case by case. You're helping build the VAR we all deserve. 🙏

Incident
Goal cancelled — foul in build-up
Law cited
Law 12 — a goal is disallowed if an attacking team-mate commits a foul in the build-up, provided that foul is itself clear and obvious.
Recommended action
Goal correctly disallowed. Merino committed a clear foul on an opponent in the build-up, and a goal cannot stand when a clear foul by the attacking side precedes it. This is not a soft build-up foul being used to chalk off a goal — the contact is clear.
Referee
Affected team
On-field decision
Goal disallowed (foul in build-up)
🎬 Spot another clip we missed? Suggest it — we review every submission.
Suggest a clip →

A Spain goal by Nico Williams was disallowed after a VAR check for a Merino foul in the build-up. This is correct. Merino committed a clear foul on an opponent moments before the goal, and a goal cannot stand when a clear build-up foul by the attacking side precedes it. The bar to chalk off a goal is a clear-and-obvious foul, not a soft one, and this contact is clear. CORRECT DECISION, medium confidence — it would flip only if the contact were soft or the opponent initiated it.

🔒 Premium

Read the full OURVAR breakdown

Sign up to see every key factor, the IFAB law clauses cited, and the frame-by-frame reasoning that led to this verdict.

Ask OURVAR

🔒 PREMIUM

Have a question about this verdict?

Push back on the verdict. Ask the AI 'why?', 'what about the elbow angle?', 'what's the precedent?' — and get IFAB-grounded answers from the same model that called the case. Pro 25/month · WC 50 · GB 150.

Discussion

You're posting as a guest — one comment per discussion. Sign in to post more and comment under your name: Sign up free →