Sports18 August, 20262 min read
Premier League Publishes KMI Panel Judgements, Ref Audio, and VAR Quotes From 2026/27 Season
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Premier League will publish full Key Match Incidents Panel judgments on referee and VAR decisions. It will broadcast RefCam audio and publish direct explanations from officials.
KMI Panel Verdicts
The Premier League will publish the full judgements of its Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel on referee and video assistant referee (VAR) decisions from the 2026/27 season as part of new transparency measures. The league said the move is aimed at ensuring "full transparency around the evaluations of the decisions made by match officials." The five-member KMI Panel, established during the 2022-23 season, reviews and votes on decisions officials took during all major incidents during Premier League matches.
The league will also share direct quotes from on-field officials and VAR in major incidents on its Premier League Match Centre social media account for the first time this season, along with in-game audio from cameras worn by referees in select matches. The 2026-27 Premier League season will kick off on Friday, with defending champions Arsenal taking on promoted side Coventry City.
RefCam, Mic’d Up, Quotes
Alongside publishing KMI judgements, the Premier League plans to expand RefCam use so rights holders can display clips from RefCam cameras mounted on referees' heads, with the recordings becoming available during games starting with the 2026-27 season. Sky Sports and TNT Sports will be able to present one or two sequences from each phase of the match, because the International Football Association Board rules do not allow live audio transmission of VAR-reported incidents. The Premier League will share selected direct quotes from referees and VARs explaining decisions on its Premier League Match Centre account on X, as well as the league’s website and app.
Howard Webb, the head of referees in England, has advocated for greater transparency in the decision-making process of refereeing since his appointment to the position four years ago, and he initiated the 'Mic'd Up' program in 2023. The Premier League and Pro Ref will continue discussions with IFAB over the possibility of allowing more VAR communication to be shared publicly.
Errors, Voting, and Impact
The KMI Panel meets weekly to review key decisions from Premier League matches, and it assesses incidents including goals, penalties, red cards, and offside decisions with each decision judged correct or incorrect by a simple majority. BBC Sport’s look at last season’s judgements showed 25 VAR errors, compared with 18 in the 2024-25 campaign, while the same dataset showed 31 errors in 2023-24 and 38 in 2022-23. The Premier League said the KMI judgements are also used in determining performance-related payments to referees at the end of each season.
The league’s transparency push also includes broadcasting RefCam audio of a referee talking to players in-game one or two times in each round of fixtures, but it will not be live and will not include any conversation between the referee and VAR. The Premier League said the KMI Panel’s full assessments—previously private—will now be made public, covering every goal, penalty, and red card as part of its three-pronged effort to boost transparency.