Has Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Ruined Football?A Sentiment and Topic Analysis Based on Chinese Social Media

This study analyzed Chinese football fans' posts and comments on ‌Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology from the Sina Weibo platform during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, using an emotion lexicon-based sentiment analysis and the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model. The findings reveal that fans' sentiments toward VAR were predominantly neutral or negative, with positive emotions accounting for only 25.46%. Online discussions on VAR progressed through three phases of initiation and diffusion, peak, and dissipation, while fans' emotions remained relatively stable. The topic analysis identified four primary concerns: "Absolute Fairness vs. Game Flow", "Deprivation of Referees' Authority by VAR", "VAR and Match Fixing" and "Rationality of VAR Usage Regulations". It is concluded that fans acknowledge VAR's contribution to refereeing fairness but remain concerned about its disruption of game flow, erosion of referees' authority, potential for match manipulation, and ambiguous usage regulations. Football governing bodies should refine VAR protocols, clarify intervention criteria and time limits, and balance technological innovation with the spectator experience.