World Cup fan goes viral for making his own 'VAR'

One football fan at the World Cup obviously wanted to check VAR himself, watching a game in Qatar through his own homemade version.

As always, VAR has had its fair share of controversial moments during the World Cup already, despite not every team having even played twice yet.

Even on the opening day of the tournament there were claims of the video assistant referee being 'rigged' after Ecuador had a goal disallowed vs Qatar.

The hosts aren't the only Middle Eastern side to have benefitted from the system, with Saudi Arabia perhaps lucky in their famous win vs Argentina that Lautaro Martinez's goal was disallowed.

One fan decided to bring his own version of the system to a game, so he could have a better look at what was happening on the pitch, as you can see in the video below.

The fan uses binoculars in front of his phone camera to get a much zoomed in look at the pitch in front of him, and you can see him smiling as it works.

The internet can be a brutal place and many of the comments for his viral video were telling him to buy the Samsung S22 ultra, which presumably has a really good zoom feature on the camera.

However, others thought it was a really good idea, "When you're Smart, you're Smart!!!!" one person commented on TikTok.

"Genius," another simply added, with another saying it was Elon Musk behind the camera, high praise and/or stinging criticism of the idea.

Maybe we'll see even more fans trying to bring their own system to games, especially with how often it is criticised in the Premier League.

Ronaldo's penalty was another huge VAR call. Image: Alamy

In fact, it would be extremely good planning to bring your own version to games, with Mike Dean claiming the system may not have worked in one World Cup game.

Cristiano Ronaldo was called a cheat for his penalty against Ghana, in Portugal's opening 3-2 win in the competition, but VAR was also blamed for giving the spot kick.

Premier League ref Dean, who now only works on VAR, claimed that a glitch might have been the reason the decision wasn't overturned.

The Englishman clearly didn't think it should have been a penalty, claiming it was 'scary' that it did stand, saying he was 'astounded.'

VAR, as always, makes a big impact at the World Cup. Image: Alamy

The fan in the crowd in Qatar with his own system isn't the first fan to have done so, and previously it's had a much bigger say on a game.

In a Serbian lower league game earlier this season, one fan called the referee over to discuss a goal he'd just disallowed for offside.

The fan showed the official the recording on his phone, which showed the forward was actually onside, with the ref overturning his initial decision.

We aren't convinced it's totally legal but fair play to the supporter.