MLS referee explains “hilarious” viral VAR moment

There’s less than a month to go until the start of the 2025 MLS season, a major landmark in the league’s history.

The league’s 30th team, San Diego FC, will join this season for the 30th year of MLS action. Teams have readied their rosters, the players are back in preseason training and coaches has just a few weeks left before the hectic pace of the regular season begins.

One group often overlooked, however, are the referees. The matchday officials who make it all possible are rarely considered but two prominent referees - Filip Dujic and Joe Dickerson - appeared on the latest episode of the Soccerwise podcast to chat about the world of refereeing.

The first topic of conversation was Dujic’s involvement in one of the viral MLS moments of 2024, a bold VAR call in a game between St. Louis City and Atlanta United. Dujic was tasked with making the in-stadium announcement of a two-part VAR decision and unwittingly produced this...

Speaking on the podcast, Dujic explained: “We went to review and everyone was asking for the offside. There’s nothing else that anyone was asking for. But then when I get to the monitor it turns out there was a foul before that, and it was something that no one was asking about.”

“I started to deliver my announcement and everyone started to cheer, and I was like ‘Hold on, I have to finish my job’, so I finished it. I did my announcement, didn’t think anything of it, and then at halftime a player tapped me on the back and said ‘You really got us with that announcement”.

MLS referee’s viral moment

The game finished 1-1 and Dujic thought little more about those few sentences at the end of the first half. But footage of the incident, complete with the cheers and groans of the home crowd, was shared on social media and quickly spread.

Dujic continued: “After the game I started receiving messages from colleagues who don’t really watch MLS all that closely, saying ‘This is hilarious’, sending me the link at 20K views. Then another, 100K views.

“I wake up in the morning and look again, [it was at] a million, and everybody’s messaging me. It took on a whole life of its own.”

Dujic went on to referee a total of 19 regular season games in 2024, taking his MLS tally to 40 since joining the league in 2022. The 31-year-old will continue in MLS in 2025 and has also been called up to officiate international games in the CONCACAF Nations Leagues. He will almost certainly rise higher in his career but he’s unlikely to have another moment like that infamous VAR call in St. Louis.

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