Starting in the 2026/27 season, German football's Video Assistant Referee (VAR) decision centre will move from Cologne to the DFB Campus in Frankfurt to accommodate technological improvements in one of a number of exciting developments.

VAR was first used in the Bundesliga during the opening game of the 2017/2018 season in which Bayern Munich beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1. In total, it was used 12 times in the game including to give a penalty for a foul by Leverkusen's Charles Aranguiz on Robert Lewandowski.

For this game, referee Tobias Stieler was helped by Dr. Jochen Drees in what proved a successful first outing for the technology.

Watch: Tobias Stieler on the first use of VAR in the Bundesliga

In the last 18 months, to further add transparency surrounding VAR and the decisions made by officials, a series of new measures have been tried out in the Bundesliga. The first of these was the use of RefCam for Matchday 23 of the 2023/24 season. During the 2-2 draw between Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg, match official Daniel Schlager was equipped with a headset camera and microphone so that fans could hear and see the process of refereeing elite football.

This technology was once again used during Matchday 12’s Klassiker encounter, in which Bayern scored late to draw at Borussia Dortmund. This time Sven Jablonski was the referee.

Watch: An in-depth look at RefCam during this season’s Der Klassiker

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The latest innovation to be tried and tested during a Bundesliga game came at the beginning of February 2025 when referee, Robin Braun announced an offside call at the BayArena during the Matchday 20 meeting between Leverkusen and Hoffenheim.

During his announcement, Braun described the incident in which Nathan Tella was seemingly fouled in the area: “The penalty was checked: according to the pictures, there was [a player in] an offside position. That’s why the decision is no penalty – offside.”

Watch: Braun makes the Bundesliga's first referee stadium announcement on Matchday 20

On 26 February, this increase in transparency was once again taken further when 32 journalists from various media outlets were invited to the so-called Kölner Keller ('Cologne Cellar') in Cologne to experience the VAR process in person. 

Under the guidance of referee chief Knut Kircher, VAR manager Jochen Drees, and active VARs Sascha Stegemann, Robert Schröder, Nicolas Winter and Arne Aarnink, the journalists were taken through the various VAR processes that take place every matchday, with the aim of deepening understanding of just how complicated these processes can be.

The day also included an opportunity to vote on whether VAR intervened correctly during several events from recent Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 matchdays.

Part of the issue with the Kölner Keller and its processes is the size of the workstation in comparison to the vast amount of technology needed to run VAR reviews successfully.

With that in mind, the VAR team will be leaving the basement of the RTL broadcasting centre for new pastures ahead of the start of the 2026/27 season. At that point, the team will operate out of the more spacious rooms of the DFB campus in Frankfurt. With the increased use of technologies surrounding VAR, the move has become a necessity, especially in light of further plans to enhance the VAR matchday experience in coming seasons.

Watch: How will referees announce VAR decisions during matches?

Starting next season, the long-awaited semi-automated offside system that has been successfully trialled in many international tournaments will finally come into place in the Bundesliga. 

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