UAF Arbitration Committee Comment Regarding the Situation Concerning the Disqualification of Shakhtar's Goal in the Match Against Kolos

The UAFA committee commented on the situation regarding the disallowed goal for FC "Shakhtar" in the match of the 25th round of the VBET Ukrainian Premier League between FC "Shakhtar" (Donetsk) and FC "Kolos" (Kovalevka), which took place on April 19, 2025. "The disallowed goal occurred due to a violation of the Laws of the Game — the 'offside' rule involving a player from FC "Shakhtar"."

UAF Arbitration Committee Comment Regarding the Situation Concerning the Disqualification of Shakhtar's Goal in the Match Against Kolos

The Committee of Referees at the UAF commented on the situation regarding the disqualification of FC "Shakhtar"'s goal in match 25 of the VBET Ukrainian Premier League, FC "Shakhtar" (Donetsk) - FC "Kolos" (Kovalevka), which took place on April 19, 2025.

The disqualification of the goal occurred due to a violation of the Laws of the Game — the offside rule for a player from FC "Shakhtar". According to the protocol and recommendations for VAR, it is mandatory to review the initial phase of attacking plays for each scored goal (from ball possession to scoring).

In this episode, during the VAR's review of the development of the attack by Shakhtar players, it was found that a player from FC "Shakhtar" № 6, who was in an offside position, interfered with play before the ball was scored into Kolos' goal. Due to technical issues in the machine used by VAR, which did not allow for graphical confirmation of the offside position of the mentioned player, it took a lot of time to confirm the decision to disqualify the goal. This time was fully compensated at the end of the match.

During technical marking and line setting, the computer in digital terms confirmed that Shakhtar's player № 6 was in an offside position. However, graphically, due to a malfunction in the system for fixing offside lines, this could not be displayed (the lines were displayed incorrectly on the graphic, but the fact of the offside position itself was technically confirmed by numbers).

Unfortunately, such an amount of lost time does indeed disrupt the game's dynamics, but the main goal of using the VAR system is to ensure a final correct decision.

The Committee of Referees has already made appropriate contact with the technical contractor regarding the technical malfunction in the system," — it is stated in the comment.