KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian referees have to forget their dream of getting a mandate to be involved in the world’s most prestigious football competitions if they do not have a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) licence.
Without experience related to VAR, local referees are not only not qualified for duties at the World Cup and Olympic Games, but also do not have the opportunity to be selected to handle important action of the highest competition of Asian clubs, namely the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League.
This is because stricter conditions and criteria have been set by FIFA to appoint referees who have VAR-related experience as the technology is widely used internationally now.
For example, all 36 referees, 69 assistant referees and 24 Video Match Officials (VMOs) selected by FIFA for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar starting next month, have VAR licences and have used them consistently.
Of the 24 VMOs selected, Muhammad Taqi Aljaafari Jahari will become the fifth referee from Singapore to serve at the World Cup after benefiting from the implementation of VAR in the republic, while no representatives from Malaysia will serve in Qatar.
FIFA Technical Instructor and former national referee, Subkhiddin Mohd Salleh revealed to Bernama that Malaysia missed the opportunity to nominate one of its best male referees for duty at the 2022 World Cup because he did not have a VAR licence.
According to Subkhiddin, who was involved in the referee evaluation and selection process for three editions of the World Cup, the local referee only had an Assistant Video Assistant Referee (AVAR) licence and therefore did not meet the criteria to be nominated as a candidate.
“For the future, we have a few more candidates who we feel are capable but the problem is that they also don’t have a VAR licence,“ said Subkhiddin, who currently also holds the position of Head of Referee Teaching Staff and Referee Development Advisor at the Korea Football Association (KFA).
Subkhiddin, 55, was the last local referee to officiate at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before being involved in the evaluation and selection process for the next three editions.
The former Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Referees Committee chairman said that in the Asian context, the process of selecting candidates for the World Cup starts from the highest competition at the AFC level, which is the AFC Champions League.
He said there was now talk that the AFC Champions League will use VAR as early as the group stage.
He noted that if that happens, then the opportunity for local referees to be selected for duty is closed because they do not have a VAR licence, which is currently under the supervision of FIFA after previously being managed by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
“FIFA have issued an unofficial directive where they won’t give licences to countries that don’t use VAR. This means that our referees cannot get a licence abroad because there is no VAR in the country itself. If we want a licence we have to start (VAR) in our own country,“ he said.
For the record, in March 2020, FAM launched the Malaysia Professional Referee System (MProRS) with the mission of making local referees a benchmark in Asia and to see three local referees given a mandate in the 2026 World Cup campaign.
VAR technology was first used in Malaysia during the AFC Cup final between KL City FC and Omani club Al-Seeb at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil on Oct 22, with it being fully managed by AFC.
Yesterday, Malaysian Football League (MFL) Chief Executive Officer Stuart Ramalingam said the use of VAR in the Malaysian League (M-League) competitions still requires in-depth study before it can be widely used. – Bernama