June 28 – The head of UEFA’s refereeing department has leapt to the defence of his officials at Euro 2024 insisting most decisions have been right and presenting a detailed graphic to prove it.
At a briefing today analysing decision making during the group stage of the competition, Roberto Rosetti was quizzed about controversial individual cases, not least those that contributed to teams’ elimination, Scotland and Czech Republic being two cases in point.
With several refs about to be cut for the knockout rounds, Rosetti said it was one of his least favourite tasks.
“Telling a referee his Euro is over is very tough. I was a referee for 30 years so I know,” he said. “They do their best, not for their egos but for football.”
Rosetti revealed figures that showed VAR decisions were being made more quickly than in the Champions League and said semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) was “working very well”. The average time for an SAOT verdict has been 46 seconds compared with 58 in UEFA’s top club competition while VAR explanations on big screens inside stadiums were having an important effect and are now shown for one minute.
Arguably the most eye-catching part of Rosetti’s presentation was the fact that more than four times the number of yellow cards have been handed out for stopping a promising attack than at the last Euros.
“We are talking about tactical fouls. Referees are getting more alert,” he said.
On the whole, officials at Euro 2024 have been praised for their performances and a particular highlight has been the new rule only allowing captains to approach the ref to discuss contentious calls, preventing other players from surrounding the referee.
“Our feedback has been extremely positive,” said Rosetti. “It’s easier now because they don’t mob the referee any more. We have already received requests from important national associations in Europe who want to follow this line. For our part, we now plan to implement it in all Uefa competitions.”
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