The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand has witnessed an extraordinary sequence of penalties, with referees awarding spot-kicks in all of the first eight games of the tournament. In approximately half of these cases, penalties were granted following consultations with the video assistant referee (VAR).
The streak of penalties finally came to an end during the ninth game of the competition, where Switzerland took the lead against debutants the Philippines with a controversial VAR intervention leading to a penalty decision. The Swiss went on to win 2-0, raising questions about the frequency and consistency of penalty calls.
