December 8 – FIFA’s refereeing chief Massimo Busacca (pictured) wants male and female referees to have the same level of expertise and a deeper knowledge of the game.
Busacca is planning a unified stance as FIFA looks ahead to the men’s World Cup in Russia in 2018 and the women’s equivalent the following year in France.
“Men and women have to work together, because we are convinced that this should be our philosophy,” says Busacca. “The game is the same, the decisions they take are the same, and thus the preparation for the referees and assistant referees should be, too,”
“That is why in all our seminars – starting with two important elite ones in February 2016 – we will present exactly the same information and we’ll organise activities to discuss and analyse situations together; men and women referees”.
Busacca is keen for FIFA officials to learn as much about tactics as fitness.
“Football is very fast nowadays, but even if you run like Forrest Gump, if you don’t understand the game, you won’t be at the right place at the right time,” he explained.
“Before a game, a coach instructs a player about how the other team lines up, what are the characteristics of the opponents, etc. It should be the same for referees: they should know if a team plays 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1; if they play on the counter-attack… Before the ball is coming, you should be able to know where it will be, and that has to be repeated and simulated to exhaustion.
“Referees are not machines and mistakes can occur, but this is how you create uniformity and consistency to minimise them.”
“After the Women’s World Cup in Canada, in our last debrief, I told the referees: in this top level, you need to prepare professionally and know what you are doing. It is the only way you can sustain your decisions. If not, people will not trust them.”
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