By Harry Awurumibe
A few days after French referee Stephanie Frappart blew the final whistle at the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019, FIFA reflected with satisfaction on the performance of the referees and how the implementation of Video assistant referee (VAR) had contributed to the resounding success of refereeing at the event.
The Chairman of FIFA’s Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, highlighted the good work done by the FIFA Refereeing department and in particular Kari Seitz, the project leader at France 2019.
“I’ve said it already in France: the match officials have worked very hard during recent years. The performances seen on the pitch were absolutely in line with our expectations. I’m also very pleased that VAR worked very well. Our referees started only after the FIFA World Cup 2018 to practice with this tool and they went through an intensive preparation process to be ready for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Overall the match officials have produced outstanding results and I am proud about the work done.”
The implementation of VAR represented a huge talking point during the FIFA Women’s World Cup, generating an interesting debate about football and its rules.
“Enforcing the laws is the referees’ task and they cannot refrain from doing it. If laws exist, referees must enforce it – particularly when tools like VAR or GLT are available. This is what the match officials have done in France.”
FIFA will continue its efforts to improve and develop overall standards of refereeing and assist all member associations and leagues wishing to implement VAR in their competitions.
