The management of the Asian Football Confederation reported that the video technology – video assistant referee (VAR) will be adopted for the 1/8 finals of the AFC Champions League. We asked the FIFA referee, our compatriot Chary Kurbanov to comment on this news on behalf of the Turkmen referees. Below is what he told to the correspondent of the website of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Policy of Turkmenistan:

— Any innovation in the favourite ‘game of millions’ pursues the only goal – to stir interest in this sport. As for the VAR video technology, this innovation has been tested already on football fields around the world.

— What do you think the main feature of the VAR video technology is?

— In my opinion, the main purpose of this innovation is to let teams play the game with a fair result. Therefore, the video assistant referee technology will let referees make fair decisions.

— There was an attempt to achieve a fair judgement by increasing the number of referees on the field, what can you say about this?

— I agree with you. The organizers of the matches were looking for a way out by increasing the number of referees. However, everything happens in seconds at some moments, and referees are not able to keep an eye on them. In these cases, of course, the need to use VAR is very acute to provide a 100% fair judging.

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We should recall that Chary Kurbanov is an experienced football referee from Turkmenistan; he has served many international matches. Referring to his rich professional biography, Chary Kurbanov expressed firm belief that this innovation in refereeing would prove to be indispensable over time and make football even more exciting.

Gurbangeldy MAMMEDSAHEDOV,

a journalist.