Russia 2018: Pierluigi Collina speaks on the intervention of VAR
At the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina, commented on June 29, 2018 the refereeing issues that marked the first 48 matches of the tournament.
The second press point of the FIFA World Cup 2018 ™ referees was held on Friday, June 29, at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow after the one of June 12, 2018. The participants exchanged on the arbitration issues that took place. furnished the first 48 meetings of the competition.
FIFA President Referee Pierluigi Collina, FIFA refereeing director Massimo Busacca and refereeing project leader VAR Roberto Rosetti were asked to analyze “a number of situations from groups “.
“There are always small adjustments to make from what we observe during the first matches. 95% of decisions made by referees without VARs were correct; thanks to VAR intervention, this percentage rose to 99.3%. ”
Statistics were presented during these exchanges. “I want to congratulate the players and the coaches for their attitude … We are very satisfied. The average of 3.4 yellow cards per game is consistent with other major competitions. The number of red cards is much lower … which proves that players show great respect towards their opponents. We asked referees to be precise, to protect the image of football and the safety of players. All the men in black understood the message, “said Pierluigi Collina.
“During a tournament, everything can not work one hundred percent,” he observes without mentioning the cases of arbitration errors to the detriment of African national formations.
He adds: “There are always small adjustments to make from what we observe during the first matches. 95% of decisions made by referees without VARs were correct; thanks to VAR intervention, this percentage rose to 99.3%. ”
“We’ve always remembered that VARs are not synonymous with perfection. But with a rate of correct decisions to 99.3%, we are really not far, “says the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee.
Towards “objectivity”
“We will try to be as objective as the coaches with their players. Overall, we are very pleased with their performance. Today, I think the VARs have been very useful, “said Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Director of Arbitration.
Roberto Rosetti, head of the VAR arbitration project, said: “The arbitrator is at the center of the entire decision-making process. VARs can not take decisions. VARs simply recommend viewing an incident. Only the referee is able to decide. This is the difference between interpretation, subjective decisions and factual decisions. When it comes to interpretation, we want the referee to stay at the center of the entire decision-making process. “
