How VAR would have changed the outcome of historic football moments

England won their one and only World Cup against West Germany. What if I tell you they actually did not win the World Cup as England's third goal did not cross the goal line.

It happened back in 1966. Now it is quite impossible to make this kind of huge mistake because of VAR.

VAR refers to Video Assistant Referee. When a referee is is not sure to make a decision, she or he takes the help of VAR.

If there was VAR in the past, then we could get a number of different results.

The Business Standard (TBS) makes a list of the top five matches where VAR could have changed the results and the history of football would have been written in a different way.

England VS Germany (1966 World Cup Final)
The game between these two European giants ended in a 2-2 draw in dedicated time.

In the 8th minute of the first extra time, Geoff Hurst's shot hit the German crossbar and bounced onto the goal line. But the referee made one of the huge mistakes considering that as a goal and England won their first-ever World Cup.

England VS Germany (2010 World Cup, Round of-16)
This match will take to you to the 1966 Final. German's were leading by two goals to one.

Frank Lampard's shot hit the German crossbar. The ball did not touch the net but surely crossed the line. The goal was not given. After that Germany scored two more goals and made it 4-1 in the end.

Germany vs USA (2002 World Cup, Quarter-Final)
German captain Michael Ballack opened the scoring with a header. In the 50th minute, the USA managed to get a corner kick.

Gregg Berhalter got the ball the and his shot bounced off midfielder Torsten Frings. The problem was the ball actually bounced off his arm and stopped the ball from going into the net and a 1-0 win for the Germans.

France v Republic of Ireland (2009, World Cup qualifier)

With a place at the 2010 World Cup at stake, the Republic of Ireland had forced France through to extra-time in their play-off with the scores level at 1-1 after 180 minutes of football. 

However, it was the 103rd minute of the second leg, inside a packed Stade de France, where Les Blues great Thierry Henry became the most hated man in Ireland, stopping the ball with his hand before teeing up William Gallas for the winning goal to break Irish hearts. 

After the game, the former Arsenal striker admitted: "I will be honest, it was a handball. But I'm not the ref." 

Little conciliation to the Republic of Ireland, although France's implosion in South Africa would have softened the blow slightly.  

Argentina VS England (1986 World Cup, Quarter-Final)
1986 World Cup, Argentina's second and last World Cup win. In the quarter-finals, they faced off the Three Lions.

Two goals were scored by the legend Diago Maradona. Both the goals made history. The first one is known as the "Hand of God Goal" as he used his hand to score that. And the second one is considered as the "Goal of the Century".

A 2-0 victory over England pushed them up to the semi-finals. Later on, they beat the mighty West Germans in the finals.