The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced this Monday that some communications between the referee and the VAR will be released during the season that is about to start.
“The Arbitration Council communicated this Monday to the C1 category referees and assistants that audio communications with the VAR will be made public as of the 2023/24 season,” the FPF announced in a statement.
In the C1 category are the referees with the competence to direct I Liga matches. The objective of the Arbitration Council “is pedagogical, in line with what it has always considered good practice.”
The disclosure will be made once a month and will be “audios of conversations between field referees and VAR in all the offers evaluated on the screen available on the pitch.”
“As it happened in the first season of the introduction of VAR in Portugal, the Arbitration Council considers that the broadcasting of audios helps to fully understand the function of arbitration. In addition, the same happens with the publication of arbitration reports, a practice introduced by this CA”, says the organization.
The FPF regrets that at that time, “probably because everything was new, the impact of disclosing the audios was not the desired one, having even contributed to increasing the noise around the tool, without benefit to the game.”
“Seven years after the introduction of VAR in soccer competitions, the Arbitration Council understands that there is enough knowledge and maturity among soccer agents and fans, which will make this disclosure something normal and useful,” he predicts.
“The Arbitration Council will evaluate the impact of this decision throughout the season and will maintain it if it understands that the benefits for football and for the understanding of the work of arbitration agents are unequivocal,” he promises.
Source: TSF
