The dissemination of communications between referees and video referees (VAR) of the Portuguese Premier League matches will be carried out through a monthly television program, the entities involved announced on Monday.
In a joint statement from the Arbitration Council (CA) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and SportTV, these entities decided that “the audio of the conversations between the field referees and the VAR in all the candidacies evaluated on the available screen on the field of play” will be released, “on a monthly basis, in a program on that station”.
“The CA will make available the audios of the offers that fall within the classification defined at the beginning of the season, in addition to an element that will be in the study to technically frame the decisions,” the statement details.
On July 24, the FPF Board defended the dissemination of communications with “a pedagogical objective, in line with what it has always considered an adequate practice”, announcing, then, that: “In the period that now begins, the Board will release, once a month, the audios of the conversations between the field referees and the VAR in all the candidacies evaluated on the screen available on the pitch”.
“The CA considers that the dissemination of audios helps to fully understand the function of arbitration,” defended the body led by José Fontela Gomes
According to FPF CA and SportTV, the first program with VAR communications will be broadcast on Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m.
This broadcast will include audio of the Cândido Oliveira Super Cup, which Benfica won 2-0, in a match in which the FC Porto coach, Sérgio Conceição, and the ‘dragões’ captain, Pepe, were sent off, in addition to the Matches of the first three rounds of the I Liga, all played in August.
On July 24, the CA also assured that “it 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 refereeing agents are unequivocal.”
Source: TSF
