After Trial, FIFA Consultator Says Indonesian Referee Is Ready To Use VAR
JAKARTA - FIFA video assistant referee (VAR), Subkhiddin Mohammad, stated that the Indonesian referee was ready to operate VAR. This was revealed by Subkhiddin after the trial process was held again.
PT Liga Indonesia Baru (PT LIB) as the competition operator conducted the last phase of the trial to apply VAR in Liga 1 2023/2024. The agenda took place at the Indomilk Arena Stadium, Tangerang on Monday, March 25, 2024, WIB night.
On the agenda, VAR testing was carried out in a trial match that brought together three SSBs, namely Farmel, Bmifa, and Remci. From the results of the trial, the Indonesian referee was declared ready to use VAR.
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"Yes, as I said, they (the referee) are ready," said Subkhiddin Mohammad in a statement quoted on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.
"We are holding a final assessment to assess their capabilities, capabilities, and how to communicate with referees on the pitch."
"The results are very good and I say pass," said Subkhiddin again.
Although the referees have been declared ready to operate VAR, Subkhiddin emphasized a number of important points that must be considered by the referee so as not to make mistakes when operating VAR.
"It's just that we need to be careful because we need to confirm so they are ready and don't interfere with the game."
"We don't want the audience to wait too long because the VAR checks take too long," he said.
The same thing was also expressed by the Director of Operations of PT LIB, Asep Saputra.
He emphasized that referees need continuous trials to be skilled in using VAR. Thus, errors in the accuracy of decisions are minimal and the time for checking VAR does not take long.
"It is hoped that through this trial, referees and replay operators will be more skilled in using VAR technology to ensure that decisions taken during football matches become more accurate and fair," said LIB Operations Director Asep Saputra.
Meanwhile, PT LIB's Technology Project Manager, Muhammad Syafiq Bahanan, said that the VAR trial process in Liga 1 has so far experienced no problems.
"Alhamdulillah, it went smoothly with all the existing dynamics," said Muhammad Syafiq.
A series of trials of implementing VAR were carried out by PSSI and PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) on 23-26 March 2024.
A total of 13 VAR referees, 22 VAR referee assistants, and 18 replay operators (RO) took part in the trial.
PT LIB together with PSSI are still working on and testing to finalize VAR operations in official competitions.
According to the plan, PT LIB and PSSI may be able to launch VAR operations in the official competition in the 2023/2024 League 1 Championship Series in May 2024.