Oleg Protasov: "The main thing - the interests of football! We do not have inviolable persons… »

After the resumption of Ukrainian Premier League matches, negative comments from club representatives on the quality of arbitration in certain matches began to appear in the media on a regular basis. To comment on this, journalists turned to the first vice-president of the Ukrainian Football Association Oleh Protasov.

"Let's start with the fact that there have always been claims to football arbitration - this has happened historically," said Oleg Valerievich. - Of course, we all want the number of mistakes of arbitrators to be minimal, ideally - that there were none at all. That is why the Ukrainian Football Association, at the initiative of President Andriy Pavelko, introduced the VAR system in matches of the championship and the Cup of Ukraine. So far, the system is used only in key matches of the championship, but UAF is working to ensure that from the 2021/2022 season, the VAR system will be used in all UPL matches. At the same time, in some cases, arbitrators, in my opinion, inefficiently use the VAR system, which leads to dissatisfaction with the quality of arbitration.

I will note that the UAF Arbitration Committee is an independent structure. The committee and its head Luciano Luci have the full support of the UAF leadership. No one interferes in their personnel matters, the rotation of arbitrators and their punishment. At the same time, the regular mention of individual referees in the context of poor refereeing of championship matches is of some concern. A striking example is Mykola Balakin, who recently made gross mistakes again after a long suspension for similar actions.

Unfortunately, there are incomprehensible, annoying refereeing mistakes not only in the UPL matches, but also in the matches of the newly renewed first league. In the first round, after the resumption of matches in the first league, we have great claims of one of the teams to the quality of arbitration. In particular, this applies to the work of Yaroslav Kozyk in the match "Chornomorets" - "Volyn". It will be recalled that this experienced referee had previously been suspended from arbitration in UPL matches for gross errors. But no conclusions seem to have been drawn. Judging by the available video replays and preliminary analysis, we can already say that the arbitration in this match did not correspond to its level, and the chief referee made a number of very controversial decisions.

As I was informed in the referees' committee, the referee Yaroslav Kozyk was appointed for this match taking into account the importance of this game for the distribution of the final places in the standings. But it must be admitted that the referee did not live up to expectations, and some of his decisions resonated among members of the football community. I hope that the arbitration panel will take note of this information and draw appropriate conclusions…

Taking this opportunity, I would like to address all representatives of the judiciary of Ukraine! In the matches of the UPL and the first league of the PFL, it is time for decisive matches. I ask everyone to treat their responsibilities as responsibly and concentrated as possible! UAF is fiercely fighting against the negative phenomena in our football and continues to work actively in this direction. There are no forbidden topics or inviolable persons for us on this path. The most important thing is the interests of football! The strongest must be determined exclusively on the football field in a fair fight! "

TOPIC NEWS
Subscribe to news