Disciplinary Committee The Belgian Football Association decided that Anderlecht – Genk played on December 23, 2023 at the Lotto Park stadium it must be repeated due to the error of the VAR and the referee in the execution of the penalty. A decision that, although not made by any court, could set precedents for potential similar episodes in the rest of football Europe.

The sequence of events that occurred halfway through the first phase is as follows: Nathan Verboomen, the field referee of the match, awarded a penalty in favor of Genk in the 22nd minute after he went to the VAR monitor to evaluate the action. Bryan Heynen finished and Kasper Schemichel saved a powerful but too focused shot. On the rebound, Yira Sor managed to knock into the net, however, The VAR room ended up disallowing the goal which made it 0-1 at the traffic light.

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Anderlecht players gathered around the referee to repeat the penalty invasion of space before kick-off, something sanctioned by the International Association of Football Associations (IFAB) in two cases: when a player of the attacking team enters the area and directly intervenes in the game, or when both a player of the attacking team and another player of the defending team do so and intervene directly. The latest case that happened at the Lotto Park stadium. In the photo, in addition to Soro, Anderlecht player Yari Verschaeren can be seen irregularly entering the space. However, despite the law, the referee and VAR awarded a free kick instead of a penalty replay. Was it the right decision by VAR?

No, at least according to the Disciplinary Council of professional football, which “decided that the Anderlecht – KRC Genk match from the end of last year must be repeated. The Disciplinary Council first declared itself competent to decide on this case. This overturned the previous decision of the Department for Professional Referees not to replay the match. The panel then followed KRC Genka’s claim that the party leadership had misapplied the rules at the penalty phase in question. “KRC Genk hopes that a date will be found soon for the match to be played again,” the club’s statement reads.

The image shows the invasion of the area by Anderlecht players. Photo: taken from AS

First, the refereeing department of the Belgian Football Association decided on January 8 that there was no reason to replay the game, considering that it was a refereeing error “in assessing the fact of the game.” , and not “in the application of the rules of the game”, according to the Belga news agency. Genk appealed the decision and now the Federation’s disciplinary commission agrees, although Anderlecht intends to analyze whether it can still appeal the matter to another body, Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported citing club sources.

If the Genk captain could not take the penalty again, it was because the Anderlecht players entered the area too early, before Sor scored to make it 0-1. By doing so, they broke the rules, because they did not benefit from their action. A fact that could explain the controversy. Instead of that, If the Anderlecht player had touched the ball first, the penalty kick would have been repeated without question. (D)