There Is An Opportunity To Use Foreign Services As A VAR Operator In Liga 1

JAKARTA - PSSI Referee Committee member Jimmy Napitupulu discussed the progress of plans to use video assistant referee (VAR) in Liga 1. Conveying to technical operations, Jimmy said there was an opportunity to attract foreign operators.

The statement was made on the grounds that currently the Indonesian referee is still not capable and ready to operate VAR. The reason is, not just anyone can become a VAR operator.

To fill the position of VAR operator, a referee needs to go through training and get a mature understanding so that there are no errors in its use.

"Indeed, for VAR it is difficult if we say. Human resources must be ready," said Jimmy Napitupulu after a media discussion session in the South Jakarta area, Monday, November 20, 2023.

"The VAR referee must have a special badge. So, (Indonesian referee) is not ready, maybe we just introduce it first, just train it," he continued explaining.

With the length of the process, it is unlikely to use domestic referee services to participate as VAR operator in domestic competitions.

If the use of VAR is still carried out in February 2024, it is not impossible that foreign referees with special VAR licenses will be involved for a while.

"Hopefully (VAR can be used as soon as possible). If we want it as soon as possible, but our human resources don't exist, we could use a VAR operator that already has a temporary license," he said.

Previously, it was known that there was a plan to use VAR in Liga 1 2023-2024 which was conveyed by the General Chairperson of PSSI, Erick Thohir. The plan is that the use of VAR will be implemented starting from the second round, or around February 2024.