Qatar Football AssociationAFC
07.11.2020 15:18 in :

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Referees Committee praised the progress of Asian refereeing and reinforced its commitment to ensure the continued development of AFC match officials at its second meeting.

In a virtual meeting, chaired by Du Zhaocai, the AFC Referees Committee hailed the successful implementation of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system, which marked its debut in the AFC Club Competitions from the Quarter-final stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League (West) in September.

Chairperson HE Du said: “So much has changed since our last meeting. Asian football has been impacted greatly by COVID-19, but Asian refereeing continued to make good progress.

“Just last month, the VAR system was introduced for the first time in Asian club football history in the AFC Champions League (West). Congratulations to our outstanding match officials as well as the Referees Department.

“And as members of this Committee, we must ensure our match officials continue to be world-class.”

The Committee also agreed to officially accredit the Continent’s top futsal referee instructors to raise the level of quality and consistency of the AFC Futsal Referee Instructors’ panel while ensuring they meet the highest competency standards outlined by the AFC, through a stringent and comprehensive selection process.

Moving forward, the Committee agreed that only certified futsal instructors will be appointed to the AFC’s refereeing development activities and competitions.

The Committee also agreed to the set of criteria proposed for the nomination process of the FIFA Video Match Officials (VMO) International list for 2021, bringing the AFC closer aligned to FIFA’s requirements. The decision further underlines Asian football’s commitment to embrace the latest technological advances as well as continuing to strive for the highest standard of match officials in Asia.

Members of the Committee also recognised the progress of the AFC’s development efforts with numerous seminars and activities for match officials, including the AFC Referee Academy continuing online in recent months as part of efforts to ensure Asia’s match officials and Member Associations continue to receive the necessary support during the COVID-19 pandemic.