The Italian Pierluigi Collina, president of the FIFA Referees Committee, explained that the mission to prepare the referees for the Qatar 2022 World Cup is to avoid the use of technology, but that this is a support to prevent human error. can affect the outcome of a match.
“Our goal is to prepare them as best as possible to avoid using technology. But the technology is there to reduce the chance of human error affecting the outcome of the match. Even the best referee can make a mistake. He is a human being, and we know it », stated Pierluigi Collina.
The Italian commanded, together with the Swiss Massimo Busacca, FIFA Refereeing Director, three seminars between the end of May and June to prepare the 36 referees, 69 assistants and 24 VAR managers from the six confederations chosen to officiate at the next World Cup .
The former Swiss referee commented, less than a hundred days before the start of the World Cup, that “it’s like a football team, they have to prepare everything very well for the most important competition we have in this sport.”
“I am convinced”, he continued, “I expect a great World Cup. We know what we are doing. We know what language we speak. The sacrifice we are making, the seminars, talking and talking, is because we want to achieve a goal. I am sure that the referees understand this message and will do very well.”
These seminars were held in Asunción (CONCACAF/Conmebol), Doha (AFC/OFC/CAF) and Madrid (UEFA), and the referees passed theoretical and practical tests daily, with which they were able to simulate and practice situations that can occur in encounters.
The referees were also able to begin to live the dream of being in a universal event, as acknowledged by the Dutchman Danny Makkelie, who was already in Russia 2018 and admitted in a FIFA statement that when he received confirmation of his election it was “an incredible feeling » because when he started «as a referee he was 12 years old» and his «goal was already to reach the top and he dreamed of the World Cup».
Mexican assistant Karen Díaz is confident that being one of the pioneers to participate in a men’s World Cup, along with referees Stephanie Frappart (FRA), Salima Mukansanga (RWA) and Yoshimi Yamashita (JPN) and assistants Neuza Back ( BRA) and Kathryn Nesbitt (USA), will offer new opportunities to women.
“I am very happy and very grateful to all the people who have given me this opportunity. We have to make sure this is not the only time women are selected, but the first of many,” she commented. EFE
