NEWSAR
Multi-perspective news intelligence
SRCAl Jazeera
LANGEN
LEANCenter
WORDS284
ENT11
MON · 2026-09-14 · 21:00 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0914-111270
News/Manchester derby VAR officials stood down from weekend Premi…
NSR-2026-0914-111270News Report·EN·Legal & Judicial

Manchester derby VAR officials stood down from weekend Premier League games

Two VAR officials involved in Manchester City's 1-0 victory over Manchester United have been stood down from upcoming Premier League games. VAR Matt Donohue, who allowed Erling Haaland's winning goal, and Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus will not officiate any fixtures next weekend.

By ReutersAl JazeeraFiled 2026-09-14 · 21:00 GMTLean · CenterRead · 2 min
Manchester derby VAR officials stood down from weekend Premier League games
Al JazeeraFIG 01
Reading time
2min
Word count
284words
Sources cited
2cited
Entities identified
11entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01

Briefing Summary

AI-generated
NEWSAR · AI

Two VAR officials involved in Manchester City's 1-0 victory over Manchester United have been stood down from upcoming Premier League games. VAR Matt Donohue, who allowed Erling Haaland's winning goal, and Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus will not officiate any fixtures next weekend. The refereeing body Pro Ref acknowledged that the VAR decision was incorrect, stating they failed to consider the impact of an offside teammate. This decision was made by chief refereeing officer Howard Webb and his management team, with neither official expected to return until after the international break.

Confidence 0.90Sources 2Claims 4Entities 11
§ 02

Article analysis

Model · rule-based
Framing
Legal & Judicial
Human Interest
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.90 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
2
Limited
FewMany
§ 03

Key claims

4 extracted
01

VAR officials Matt Donohue and Blake Antrobus are not expected to return to duty until at least after the international break.

factualarticle
Confidence
1.00
02

VAR failed to account for the impact of teammate Enzo Fernandez, who attempted to play the ball from an offside position.

factualarticle
Confidence
1.00
03

VAR was wrong to allow Erling Haaland's decisive goal in the Manchester derby.

factualPro Ref
Confidence
1.00
04

Two VAR officials involved in Manchester City's win over Manchester United have been stood down from upcoming Premier League games.

factualarticle
Confidence
1.00
§ 04

Full report

2 min read · 284 words
The chief refereeing officer stands down two VAR officials involved in Man City’s win at United from upcoming EPL football games.Matt ‌Donohue, the video assistant referee (VAR) ⁠who ⁠allowed Erling Haaland’s winner in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Manchester ⁠United, has not been selected to officiate at any of next ⁠weekend’s Premier League football fixtures.Assistant VAR Blake Antrobus has also not been given any assignment after the refereeing body Pro Ref ‌acknowledged in a statement that VAR was wrong to allow Haaland’s decisive goal.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4North Korea thrash Bangladesh 10-0 in Asian Games women’s footballlist 2 of 4Eto’o faces allegations of embezzlement in Cameroon FA presidency rolelist 3 of 4‘Fake news’: South Korea’s manager Moreno dismisses AI coaching allegationslist 4 of 4‘This year I’d deserve it’: Lamine Yamal stakes Ballon d’Or claimend of listThe decision was taken by chief refereeing officer Howard Webb and the management team, with neither ⁠official expected to return ⁠to duty until at least after the international break.Haaland’s second-half strike was initially ruled out for ⁠offside before being awarded following a VAR review ⁠that determined the Norwegian ⁠striker was onside.However, the refereeing body later said the VAR had failed to take into ‌account the impact of teammate Enzo Fernandez, who attempted to play the ‌ball ‌from an offside position.United, who are 13th in the English top flight following the defeat, are next in action when they play Brighton in the League Cup on Wednesday. Their next Premier League game will be played at Fulham on Sunday.City entertain Norwich City in the cup on Thursday, before hosting Sunderland on Sunday in the league, where they are level on points with leaders and defending champions Arsenal.
§ 05

Entities

11 identified
§ 06

Keywords & salience

8 terms
var officials
1.00
manchester derby
0.90
premier league
0.80
offside decision
0.70
refereeing body
0.60
erling haaland
0.50
howard webb
0.50
football games
0.40
§ 07

Topic connections

Interactive graph
Network visualization showing 51 related topics
View Full Graph
Person Organization Location Event|Click node to navigate|Edge numbers = shared articles