AIFF organises online FIFA MA Course for referees

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) organised an online two-day FIFA MA course for referees on Tuesday and Wednesday with a focus on football understandings of the referees and new amendments in the laws of the game.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) orgsed an online two-day FIFA MA course for referees on Tuesday and Wednesday with a focus on football understandings of the referees and new amendments in the laws of the game.

Farkhad Abdullaev from Uzbekistan was appointed as the course instructor for the session.

"We had a good chance to discuss amendments in the laws of the game 2020-21 and clarify many important aspects like accidental handball situations followed by an immediate goal or offside offences. We had an in-depth discussion on penalty area incidents and offside decisions," AIFF quoted Abdullaev as saying.

The Uzbek instructor during the course suggested the significance of 'real-match experience' for the development of a referee.

"With the support of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Football Association (FIFA), they (referees) will get the opportunities to improve themselves, but a real-match experience is of utmost importance. Local, qualified instructors should be involved closely and all the match situations from leagues should be analysed deeply," said Abdullaev, who was a technical instructor in four FIFA World Cups including Russia 2018.

"Local instructors and Assessors play a very important role in developing referees. What people do at the local level, needs to be polished at a higher level (AFC and FIFA)," he added.

Rahul Gupta, a FIFA panelled referee, informed how this course helped him "enhance refereeing skills".

"I personally have a lot of clarity regarding match-changing situations. Penalty box incidents, handball and so on, which will, in turn, enhance my refereeing skills," Gupta said.

The two-day course also stressed on handball interpretations and penalty area incidents. "Farkhad clarified the law amendments of 20/21 with video analysis, that helped us understand the motive of the amendment and implementation for my upcoming assignments," said Venkatesh R, AIFF Referee of the Year.

( With inputs from ANI )