The three levels of the referee work of the Chinese Super League need to be improved, and the comprehensive public comment is the biggest highlight in 2024

Reporter Chen Yong reports In the 2024 season, although the results of each referee's public comment will arouse heated discussions from the outside world, as far as refereeing is concerned, the comprehensive and detailed public comment system is undoubtedly the progress and biggest highlight of the referee work of the professional league. In addition, a stricter referee management system is also a huge change. Of course, there are still some problems in the refereeing work, such as the lack of slots affecting the quality of VAR, the need for further popularization of VAR in low-level leagues such as the Central League, and the need to put auxiliary means such as goal-line technology on the agenda.

The Football Association introduced a referee review system in the 2022 season, but in the 2024 season, the comprehensive public review system is undoubtedly a huge change and progress. As of this season, the Football Association has released 26 referee reviews, with a total of 161 cases, of which 56 cases were referee errors, accounting for more than 1/3. In addition, there have been several cases where the VAR intervention procedure was incorrect or there were other problems, although the results were correct.

When the referee is evaluated, the discipline inspection and supervision team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the General Administration of Sports and the discipline inspection department of the Football Association will supervise, and the media representatives will attend, and the leaders of the Football Association will always insist on participating, and the attention is also demonstrated by supervision and deterrence. It is worth noting that if there is a disagreement in the evaluation results, the Football Association will also invite experts from the international refereeing community to participate, such as the second phase of the referee review of the third round of the Chinese Super League West Coast and Manatee match, the Football Association will solicit the opinions of three authoritative experts in the international refereeing community.

Although some controversial cases will arouse heated discussions and even criticism from the outside world, comprehensive and open comments have played a very positive role. First of all, the emotions of the club, including those of the fans, were soothed; secondly, public comment puts a lot of pressure on referees, which in turn can promote referees to improve their professional level. In addition, the referee's review itself is also to popularize relevant knowledge and avoid misunderstandings.

In line with the public comment, there are changes to the referee management system, including allowing clubs to appeal; Formulate a system for the promotion and removal, and a blacklist system for referees; The "Implementation Rules for the Promotion and Relegation of Referees in the Professional League of the Chinese Football Association in 2024 (Trial)" was promulgated, in which the referee evaluation includes professional ability (60%), self-management ability (25%) and professional league participation (15%), of which in terms of professional ability, referee supervision and evaluation accounts for 45%, key events are wrong and missed judgments account for 45%, and net game time accounts for 10%.

The referee's mistakes and omissions, including VAR intervention errors, reflect the referee's professional ability, and objectively speaking, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the professional ability of domestic referees. However, an insider judged that the referee's business ability is expected to be greatly improved in the future, the reason is very simple, with the full rollout of youth events and the continuous expansion of the scale of the event, including but not limited to campus football, the Youth Championship, the Football Association three major competitions and the three major ball games and other events, referees will get more opportunities to exercise, and it is inevitable and necessary to improve business ability.

The improvement of referees' professional capabilities should be gradual and not promoted, but the improvement of relevant assistive technologies, including the wider use of VAR, can be achieved in the short term.

This involves three levels, one is the broadcast position, this season in the Super League and the Chinese League in part of the penalty needs VAR intervention, there has been no clear video situation, the Chinese League individual games even have no clear video to determine whether offside, obviously, increasing the broadcast position is one of the effective means; The second is that VAR technology has only been used in some key games in the closing stage of this season, and before, due to the lack of VAR technology, there have been many misjudgments in the middle league and the second division, so the call for the introduction of VAR in the lower leagues is higher; Third, there is a desire to introduce goal-line technology.

At present, the introduction of VARs more broadly, funding is the most realistic difficulty, especially the introduction of VARs in lower leagues. The way to do this is to continue this season's practice, but with more games and bring in VAR in key matches. Increasing goal-line technology also requires a large capital investment, and if it is introduced, the club's dividends will be affected. In contrast, it may be easiest to increase the number of broadcast seats, although it will also increase the financial investment, but it is relatively small.

In addition to funding, the shortage of professionals is also one of the difficulties, whether it is VAR or goal-line technology, there is a need for professionals, but the current number cannot meet the demand.

According to the reporter's understanding, the current practice of the Chinese Football Association is to continue to strengthen the training of referees, increase the number of professionals, and prepare for the popularization of VAR and the use of related technologies in the future; On the other hand, it is to continue to communicate with the league management department to discuss the application of relevant technologies.