Around the world, video assistant referee technology (VAR for short) has been widely applied in most major tournaments. Thanks to VAR, the transparency and fairness of the matches is ensured, limiting the wrong decisions of the referees. World football has entered a new chapter thanks to VAR, and in the S-shaped strip of land, this technology is also expected to bring the same thing. For that reason, in the year of the Rabbit year 2023, operating video-assisted arbitration (VAR) technology is considered by VPF as a key problem in key development goals.
Vietnam Professional Football Joint Stock Company (VPF) is trying to meet the progress and aim to apply VAR technology by the end of 2023.
Apply VAR at V.League
“The members of the project committee are working hard to implement according to the schedule and timeline of FIFA. Our goal is to implement VAR in the 2023-2024 season. Therefore, currently, the training of referees and assistant referees VAR is also being focused on so that the personnel can meet the above timeline.”Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc, General Director of VPF said.
In fact, the plan to apply VAR in football tournaments in Vietnam has been considered for a long time. However, when VAR first appeared and was put into operation in the world in 2018, the cost of using this technology was too expensive compared to the revenue that VPF earned. At the same time, not only Vietnam but also many developing football fields were skeptical when VAR was not popular at that time.
But until now, VAR has become closer when many flexible operating measures are applied. In addition, VPF has just received a huge income from selling television rights to FPT Play, so it can be more confident in approaching VAR.
In recent years, the issue of referees in tournaments in Vietnam has caused a lot of controversy. Many teams or players have to suffer because of the mistake of the person who “holds the balance”. Although many proposals or penalties have been made, it cannot be completely solved by quickly applying VAR.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Ngoc commented: “During the game control, VAR will effectively support the referees. From there, the V.League will be improved in fairness and the clubs will no longer have to worry about the refereeing work.”
V.League will see many changes in 2023.
Change to fit in
In addition to the appearance of VAR, another important change of the Vietnamese professional league system in 2023. V.League 2023 is the last season using the old schedule, ie playing in 1 calendar year. In the 2023-2024 season, V.League will switch to the same timeline as other major tournaments to integrate with the tournaments and schedules of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
“Changing the schedule next season brings some difficulties for this season, because the competition density will be thicker but the organization time will be shortened. However, this is a stepping stone season for the 2023-2024 season to operate according to AFC regulations. Besides, the break between the two seasons is not much, making the clubs difficult and has to worry about the new season.
The change of format between the two seasons also challenges the adaptability of the clubs, so they need to have a long-term plan.”. The leader of VPF commented.
In return, the change will make Vietnamese football more favorable in the transfer market, which can bring in quality foreign players to prepare for continental tournaments. However, there is still another problem that arises, which is that the clubs and VFF will have to find a common voice when the interests of both sides may be affected by tournaments such as the AFF Cup that coincide with the V.League.
New year, new hopes and new wishes, Mr. Ngoc expressed: “In the new year of 2023, I hope that everything goes smoothly, the coordination between the club, the match organizer and the VPF achieves the highest consensus. The season will go on as planned and on time. I hope that heaven and earth will be reconciled with VPF, V.League and Vietnamese football”.