By Mark Baber
January 17 – Pierluigi Collina, UEFA’s chief refereeing officer, visited Brussels to offer support and encouragement as the Belgium introduces additional assistant referees (AARs).
The Belgian FA (URBSFA-KBVB) will introduce the additional assistants in the upcoming semi-finals and final of the Belgian Cup and they will also be used in the domestic championship play-offs.
The new system, the brainchild of Michel Platini in 2007, has been used in UEFA’s major competitions since the 2009-10 edition of the Europa League and sees an additional assistant deployed on each of the goal lines who watches for incidents in the penalty area and helping the match referee in taking decisions.
Collina explained: “There will never be perfect refereeing but statistics show the new system helps us to get closer.”
“The main goal of the AAR system is to support the central referee when an important decision in or around the penalty area has to be taken. What we achieved so far in more than 1,200 matches is a better control of the match, a reduction of incidents at corners and free-kicks, a better control of the goal line and improved accuracy in the offside decisions taken by the assistant referee.”
Paul Allaerts, technical director for refereeing at the URBSFA-KBVB, said: “This project is part of the further professionalisation of refereeing in Belgium, and is intended to deliver better decisions, especially regarding crucial situations in and around the penalty area and in offside situations. Also, it will enable better judgement in match phases in which the ball did or did not cross the goal line.”
Following a decision by the International Football Association Board in July, confederations and national associations are allowed to use additional assistant referees in their competitions according to the Laws of the Game and it is expected other associations will follow in Belgium’s footsteps.
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