Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation registered a major milestone when its first Refereeing Expert Workshop kicked off recently in the Malaysian capital city.
Seventeen top refereeing experts - 12 technical and five fitness instructors - gathered for the three-day workshop to look at how AFC can move forward in the field of refereeing development.
It is the first time that all the top AFC Instructors in both the technical and fitness areas were put together in a single programme working towards designing and setting the groundwork for future programmes and activities.
The main focus was to review and refine course programmes, daily activities in competitions, evaluation of match officials and designing training plans. Attention was also given to evaluation and selection of new instructors, assessors and referees in AFC.
The experts made a presentation related to three key areas - Referee Assessors/Instructors, Men and Women Referees as well as Referee Fitness Test and Development. The instructors were divided into three groups who reviewed current practices and provided their suggestion and shared ideas to enhance and improve these areas.
Shamsul Maidin, Director of the AFC Referees Department, said the workshop was an excellent opportunity for all the instructors to share their views and provide feedback.
“This will also serve as a pilot project and we envision that the workshop would one day be expanded to include experts from the other confederations. They should use the workshop sessions to brainstorm ideas and come up with suggestions for improvements. Although refereeing in AFC has achieved many successes and set a very high benchmark, it is important to reflect and review all current practices in order to move forward.”
Fernando Tresaco Gracia, a world renowned educator of referee instructors, was a guest speaker at the workshop which was also attended by former Director of the AFC Referees Department and now Consultant Yoshimi Ogawa.
Prior to the workshop, a meeting was held to study the AFC criterion on referee development and selection procedures for the AFC Refereeing Panel.
The workshop will end on Wednesday after the final recommendations are tabled.
Photo: AFC