Luciano Luci: "Ukrainian arbitrators were already pleasantly impressed with their physical fitness in January"

22.01.2019 17:49

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

On January 22, in the Kiev athletics arena of SHVSM, Ukrainian football referees of all categories and their assistants took a FIFA fitness test.

Traditionally, after the feast of the Epiphany, the national referees begin to take vacations and start preparing for the spring part of the football season. Work begins on the preparation of FIFA fitness tests.

This year, in the first phase of the exam, nearly 300 national referees, both men and women, from all professional leagues and schools of football referees, took the traditional sprint test or the so-called re-sprinting test.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

According to the FIFA test standard for referees, Ukrainian referees had to run six times in 40 m with a minute break between races. The standard for men is 6 s, for women - 6,4 s. In case of at least one unsuccessful attempt one additional race is appointed, at two failures the test is considered failed. By the way, the average score of Premier League referees was 5,67 seconds.

According to the chairman of the FFU Referees Committee, Italian Luciano Luci, who watched the tests closely, all participants impressed him with his physical training at this stage: "This is the first test of this season, which covers all professional Ukrainian championships - UPL, PFL, youth league referees and women's championship. Our referees take the same FIFA tests as last year - interval training and speed tests. "

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Luciano Luci also said that two referees representing the elite division could not take part in the testing: “So far, we have not been able to include two injured referees in the first tests in the new year. Mykola Kryvonosov from Kyiv was injured while working on the match between Shakhtar and Zorya. He underwent two surgeries and is now continuing to recover from the injury. Also, Anatoliy Abdula from Kharkiv, who underwent meniscus surgery, is not with us yet. All others are present and pass the tests. By the way, according to the first tests I saw, I can say that the Ukrainian referees were already pleasantly impressed by their physical training in January.

As for further plans, in 10 days a group of 89 referees and assistants will go to the meeting in Antalya, Turkey. There the emphasis will be on physical, technical, theoretical training. I can add that at this meeting all our classes will be focused on the use of the VAR system, which will soon be implemented in Ukraine. "

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

According to the chairman of the arbitration committee, as soon as the technical equipment arrives in Ukraine, Ukrainian referees will move on to practical training to work with VAR after the stage of theoretical training, which they have already received and continue to receive. "When the VAR system finally works in Ukrainian football, it doesn't even depend on FFU, but on FIFA, which has to give Ukraine a special permit," says Luciano Luci. - The whole VAR system in the football world depends on FIFA. This system really helps if used properly. If you do it wrong, you can have problems. However, in Europe, after long training and practice, it received positive reviews, and obvious mistakes were corrected. I believe that Ukrainian referees will be ready for this system, and Ukrainian football needs VAR, because with the start of its work it will be possible to avoid most of the mistakes and controversial decisions that occur during the top mats of the Ukrainian championship. "

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Referees who serve matches of the elite Ukrainian division also shared their first impressions from the beginning of preparations for the spring part of the season. "After a short vacation, we continue to prepare for the resumption of the Ukrainian championship. The mood is fighting, we need to prepare well for the season, because the stage of decisive matches is ahead, - says referee Viktor Kopievsky from Kropyvnytskyi. "We have an important stage of preparation ahead of us in Turkey, where, by the way, there will be work on the implementation of the VAR system in Ukraine."

Arbiter Vitaliy Romanov from Dnipro is also waiting for the VAR system in Ukraine: “Now we are taking tests, starting our training to prepare and hold the meeting in Antalya in the best possible way. In addition to physical training, we also have various tests, exercises and lectures, including on the VAR system. In my opinion, after the VAR starts working in Ukraine, the level of pressure on the referee will decrease. "

\Photo by Pavlo Kubanov