Luciano Gonçalves, President of the Portuguese Association of Football Referees (APAF), comments on the delicate situation of national refereeing in the league’s annual trips, in Braga.
Criticism of refereeing in general and complaints against Pinto da Costa or Sérgio Conceição: «It has nothing to do with Bento da Costa, Rui Costa, Varandas or Salvador, but rather has something to do with what, in our opinion, calls into question the seriousness of the referees and their suitability, and has nothing to do with A, B or C. Three days there were situations with three different clubs. Nor are we indifferent to it, when the signs are crossed and some sort of suspicion begins that we cannot agree to. Then we send a letter to the disciplinary board and the disciplinary board understands what it must decide. We accept criticism, but the honor of the rulers cannot be questioned.
foreign arbitrators: «I just learned that we will have two Cypriot referees in the two biggest matches in La Liga 2. It makes sense when we talk about exchanging training, otherwise we do not agree. Our referees are capable, and outside of the Big Five, we are among the countries most invited to participate in European competitions ».
Video Assistant Referee: ′′ The VAR is an asset and has come to help. There are still growing pains, but we are trying to eliminate bugs, there is a process to be improved. Previous video assistant referee rule? It was impossible to do this process from the beginning, and surely in the very near future there will also be changes regarding who has the power to perform these functions. »
Disclosure of the audio recording: “It has nothing to do with what we want or not. Recently, the FPF Arbitration Board asked the FPF Board this question and the answer was no, this submission cannot be made.”
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