Arunava about Football A look at football & the world through my eyes!
Related Articles
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Referee Assessor Seminar 2022 successfully concluded on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur and saw 84 participants from 26 Member Associations (MAs) gather to discuss updates and examine their knowledge of the referee assessment curriculum.
Held over two days, from November 1 to 2, this was the first seminar to be organised physically since 2019, signalling the AFC’s gradual and steady recovery from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The programme, attended by AFC Referees Committee Deputy Chairperson Hany Taleb Al-Raeesi and AFC Referees Committee Advisor, General Farouk Bouzo, also saw participants benefiting from some of the renowned referee instructors in the world, such as AFC Consultant Raymond Olivier, and AFC Women’s Referee of the Year Yamagishi Sachiko from Japan.
Activities of the first day included the participants understanding the importance of uniformity in grading and studying key match incidents while Day 2 delved into topics such as the importance of post-match debriefs.
The past year witnessed referees from Asia being appointed to numerous high-profile tournaments such as the FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2021, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021, and the Tokyo Olympics.
Reflecting on the success, Hany Taleb Al-Raeesi said: “You only have to look back at the achievements of our match officials in the past year as proof of our incredible progress.
“We also saw the first woman referee from the AFC being appointed to a FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania and of course, the first female AFC referee appointed to the FIFA World Cup later this month.”
Underlining the AFC’s Vision and Mission, he continued: “Our aspiration to be the world’s leading Confederation relies significantly on producing world-class referees, and a big part of achieving this is anchored on the AFC’s commitment towards providing class leading programmes and seminars for our match officials, as well as referee assessors and instructors.”
“As assessors, you are the custodians of the refereeing standards across the Continent, and continued success will come through our shared values of unity, leadership and professionalism at all levels,” he added.
The seminar also included a memento plaque presentation ceremony where seven experienced assessors were awarded mementos as tokens of appreciation for their service through the years.
