The referees in Belgium's top league handed out fewer yellow and red cards last season: 837 times yellow and 11 times straight red. In addition, 98 percent of their decisions were correct after the intervention of the video ref. These are the conclusions of the Professional Refereeing Department.
The Professional Refereeing Department (PRD) met today in Tubeke to make an evaluation of last season and to discuss some rule changes. For example, involuntary hand play by an attacker (or a team-mate) will only be penalized if the hand play is committed just before a goal or a clear goal opportunity.
Over the past season, of only 29 playing days, the department was satisfied. The game leaders in the Jupiler Pro League drew a total of 837 yellow cards. In the same period the previous season (2018-2019) there were 991, a decrease of 15.5 percent. For the double yellow cards, this is a decrease of 30 percent (21 last season compared to 30 the season before). For the direct red cards, it is even a decrease of 52.2 percent, 11 compared to 23.
The use of the VAR also meant that the referees hardly made any wrong decisions. The PRD identified 930 so-called "key moments" for the refs and their assistants in the 232 games played in last season's Jupiler Pro League. The accuracy of their decisions before VAR intervention was 84 percent, but 98 percent after VAR intervention. So, the PRD only identified 2 percent or 16 major wrong decisions.