Doha: The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) held a special seminar for Video Assistant Referee (VAR) instructors over two days in Doha, with participation from representatives of three continental federations: Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
The seminar was inaugurated on Tuesday by Hani Ballan, Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee and Chairman of the Qatar Football Association Referees Committee. The event was overseen by Michael Bailey, Mike van der Roest, Valentin Ivanov, and Ismail Al Hafi, representing FIFA’s Refereeing Department.
The seminar saw the participation of 35 attendees, including four from the Qatar Football Association: Abdulrahman Abdo, Slim Jedidi, Khamis Al Marri, and Raed Bakr.
FIFA regularly holds such seminars in Doha, which has previously hosted the FIFA seminar for referees selected to officiate at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, featuring 41 referees from Asia, Africa, and Oceania. Additionally, Doha hosted the FIFA seminar for female referees shortlist
ed for the Women’s World Cup in France 2019, as well as the selected referees for the same tournament.
Doha has also been the venue for the training camp for assistant referees participating in the Women’s World Cup in Canada 2015, the FIFA seminars for male and female referees in April 2016, the FIFA seminar for referee instructors in 2018, the third seminar for promising referees, and the seminar for international referee instructors, among many other FIFA seminars dedicated to referees and instructors.
The hosting of such referee seminars is a testament to the strong relationship between QFA and FIFA, which spans several years, beginning with Qatar hosting the training courses for referees of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Source: Qatar News Agency