Implementing VAR in League 1, Erick Thohir: Refereeing in Indonesia must be better

– Chairman of the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI), Erick Thohir, urged the referees who lead the football match to be even better. So therefore video assistant referee (VAR) for the second round of the BRI League 1 2023/2024 will be implemented.

This was said after the VAR Education was shown to the referees in Jakarta, Friday (7/7/2023). This three-day training is preparation for VAR implementation for the second round of the upcoming 2023/2024 BRI League 1.

“PSSI wants to make sure that the referees are ready and have the ability. Therefore, apart from the previous training, I also give an outlook regarding our refereeing to be better,” he said.

This training was attended by 42 referees consisting of 18 referees who will serve in BRI League 1 2023/2024 and 24 referees who will later serve in League 2.

According to him, this training is the key. He wants refereeing in Indonesia to improve, so that matches can be played more optimally.

“Therefore, yesterday during the Exco meeting, I offered to take the lead of the Referee Committee. This is none other than to encourage us to care for them, the referees, so that even the PSSI Chair would step down,” said Erick.

He said his target going forward is to make referees in Indonesia no longer underestimated. Every effort is made so that the green field judges are well regarded by the community.

In fact, PSSI has collaborated with Japan to improve the quality of referees. Erick said it would cost up to billions to improve the quality of referees.

“We have learned from a comparative study with Japan that there is a refereeing structure that must be thoroughly repaired and the cost is not cheap. It is in the billions,” said Erick.

“Never before have we at PSSI had such a large budget for refereeing. We are trying to find funds again. I thank the (New Indonesia) league for being able to push for the acceleration of VAR, so that it is an extraordinary breakthrough,” he said.

Furthermore, Erick asked for government support so that the VAR could be determined as a whole. One of them is the renovation of the stadium to fit the standard.