A hand whistled here but not there, a red card inflicted or not in two similar situations, the video assistant who intervenes with, it seems, a very personal reading of the “obvious error”… Not a weekend goes by in the European championships without the refereeing being called into question. The introduction of VAR has not changed anything, quite the contrary. And even the UEFA president admitted to being a little fed up.
“Sometimes, fans cannot understand the different interpretations of the rules from one match to another, and I understand them: I don’t understand anything anymore either,” Alexander Ceferin said on Friday during a conference organized in Madrid by Apollo Sports Capital, Atlético’s new majority shareholder. For the hands for example, no one understands anything. If it’s a penalty or not, if it’s intentional or not… How do you know, you’re not a psychiatrist! »
A surprising outing from one of the highest leaders in world football? A little, even if we remember that the Slovenian was not a fierce supporter of the introduction of video in football, decided by Fifa. At the time of the debate on its use from the 2018 World Cup, Ceferin was reluctant. “I know we won’t go back but on this subject, I’m a little conservative. “, he declared in particular.
At the time, the UEFA president insisted that “the referee (must) remain the judge”. He hasn’t changed his mind. “What we try to explain to the referees is that it is the referee on the field who decides. VAR should only intervene in the event of a clear and manifest error. And the interventions must be short, not like sometimes in La Liga or the Premier League, with 10-15 minutes of stopping to check an action,” he recalled.
Our file on video arbitration
Alexander Ceferin considered that the best way to avoid errors was “to respect as strictly as possible” the IFAB regulations, regretting that European clubs only call him to “complain” and “never” to recognize a decision that was favorable to them.
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