Someone at FIFA/UEFA should do something about the referees

[Hispo]

Perhaps in the future FIFA/UEFA could apply an artificial intelligence to perform as a referee instead a human being. It is something which could get rid of the human mistakes and the influence of bribery, but I doubt it could become a thing in the mid term, since I am sure the referees would not feel very happy about it.

Also, the artificial intelligence could take those decisions faster, using several angles of the cameras to determine which team is committing a fault without preferences.  

as referees know they are closely filmed and the technology today is more advanced, i believe they will also make sure not to commit mistakes. because one big mistake, it can ruin their career.
AI can be used to assess the game for now, but using them as referees may still not be on the way. how can they be used on the middle of the field or should i say referee on the middle of the field?

It is amusing you mention that a referee career depends on their choices because here in Latin America we have a legend of a very infamous referee which probably became the most hated one in the world, despite his horrible work as a referee he continued participating in more matches and each one more important than the previous one.So his career was not affected, not until the end.

He got fired and eventually turned to drug trafficking to the United States. You should take a look at that case.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_Moreno


Artificial intelligence could free us from future referees like that one.

[rdluffy]

I know the offside rule is not popular as it is probably one of the rules which is the most often applied during a match and it is often the one that causes the most controversy, but if the rule was eliminated then there will always be a striker right in front of the goalkeeper just waiting for the ball to come to him and try to get an easy score, such a change on the rule will change soccer forever, so I would prefer if the rule remained in place to keep the spirit of the game intact.

For a long time now I have seen the offside rule as a bigger problem in soccer than as something useful.
You said about the attacker being face to face with the goalkeeper, but it is the duty of the defender of the other team to stay close to this attacker and avoid this type of situation. To my way of thinking it makes no sense to punish the attacker for being in a better position than the other team's defender

The end of this rule would cause two effects that could help soccer a lot:
1 - more goals per match, making soccer even more cool to watch
2 - fewer problems, doubts and fights over offsides, especially like the one the OP commented on, which must have been only a few centimeters offside

Some years ago I played a lot of soccer and in those "amateur" matches we never used any form of offside, the match tended to run normally and with less stops
A curiosity, the most difficult thing to explain about soccer to those who don't understand it is the offside rule, and every time they ask me and I explain, the next question is: but why? 

It's just my opinion, but I understand yours and I respect that 

Dang, those are nice figures. It makes me want to change my ambition now. Now all I want is to become a referee but of course that is only a joke because number one is I don't have a passion in it and number two is, referee on lower leagues are still being paid low and it takes time for a referee to be promoted and work on higher leagues.
...

Although the referee's salaries are higher than mine, I don't think it's too high, since as you said yourself, only a few get to referee in the major leagues, and it's a ungrateful profession.
Many referees in the minor leagues are threatened and offended, and for any referee there is always the risk of making some mistake or big mistakes in important matches and losing his career.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

The referees are an integral part of any game I know this but tonight happened something unique and very strange,Southampton lost my bet because of VAR as I had both teams to score,the same with Athletic Bilbao as I had it both teams to score and in both cases the referees impacted the game,somewhat more in La Liga in Spain but I had really nice tickets with many other games that were lost only because of the referees wrong decisions regarding me as I saw the game and I think you cannot disallow 2 goals when the cases were to say the least doubtful.

Should UEFA do something about the referees,these guys have everything in their hand and can make the game go any result and I will say again that famous saying from a local coach where I live as he were leading the first place and lost against last place at home,in the end of the game he said explicitly (With this referee even Brazil could not win tonight)?

You don't have to blame  your loss on the referee bud, just blame it on fate, you and I know that the referee is not aware of your bet, and I doubt if he's aware of anyone's bet, all he is about is a game that is fair for both teams playing, he can't because of your bet not cancel a  goal that the VAR has proven to be offside.

I understand how it hurts, but don't be so self centered, most especially in matter as this, also think about those who were going to lose the bet if the referee had kept quiet, do you think their loss would have been a fair loss, considering the goal you are talking about was confirmed to be an offside by a VAR.?

[LUCKMCFLY]

Well, I discovered these types of things that have happened a long time ago, and what the main referees do is that if they show that the decision is safe on their part, they do not review the VAR, so we continue on the same path of corruption, this is something that has always existed and it is pitiful, in the matches of all the leagues I have seen this type of injustice, so it is difficult, because internally FIFA also has its own business and everyone wants to win, so these instances it is difficult to fight against one of what I consider the biggest mafias in the world, FIFA is one of the entities that do the most damage to sport for this type of behavior.

[Zigabel]

The referees are an integral part of any game I know this but tonight happened something unique and very strange,Southampton lost my bet because of VAR as I had both teams to score,the same with Athletic Bilbao as I had it both teams to score and in both cases the referees impacted the game,somewhat more in La Liga in Spain but I had really nice tickets with many other games that were lost only because of the referees wrong decisions regarding me as I saw the game and I think you cannot disallow 2 goals when the cases were to say the least doubtful.

Should UEFA do something about the referees,these guys have everything in their hand and can make the game go any result and I will say again that famous saying from a local coach where I live as he were leading the first place and lost against last place at home,in the end of the game he said explicitly (With this referee even Brazil could not win tonight)?

I believe there's a body responsible to checkmate the referees and making sure they are carrying out their duties correctly, another thing bwe shouldn't forget is that they are humans and could at some point make mistakes so such mild mistakes could be overlooked but when it becomes too obvious and occurs too often, then it should be checked probably the referees involved suspended awhile and asked to go improve via training and other disciplinary measures.

A whole lot in a game is usually been tied to a referee and their mistakes could literally ruin a game and the chances of a team winning or loosing so it's really important they are put into consideration well enough and that is why some leagues do not use VAR and some make sure they are always there, preferential efficiency could also be a reason.

[criptoevangelista]

Apparently, the complaints about football referees are on a global scale, and here too it is quite controversial, there is no point in VAR, there is no point in complaining, the errors still exist and some border on the bizarre, perhaps even with bad intentions... I still believe that many referees are bought to favor team A or team B, it is not possible... there are so many things but this is the only way to explain the errors... very grotesque, bordering on the ridiculous.

[boltz]

Apparently, the complaints about football referees are on a global scale, and here too it is quite controversial, there is no point in VAR, there is no point in complaining, the errors still exist and some border on the bizarre, perhaps even with bad intentions... I still believe that many referees are bought to favor team A or team B, it is not possible... there are so many things but this is the only way to explain the errors... very grotesque, bordering on the ridiculous.

Very true! The problems with the refs are global because there are no top referees in the last couple of years but also we have no young refs who are skillful enough to actually be part of top games in strong championships. We also had a lot of problems in UCL last year with a lot of games where refs ruined the game, then we had both Euro and Copa America where once again the refs ruined a lot of games and made a lot of bad decisions that led to goals or important scoring chances. That's why , I think FIFA needs to find a way very soon to improve the refs skills within one year maximum or situation will be even worse .

[Hewlet]

Apparently, the complaints about football referees are on a global scale, and here too it is quite controversial, there is no point in VAR, there is no point in complaining, the errors still exist and some border on the bizarre, perhaps even with bad intentions... I still believe that many referees are bought to favor team A or team B, it is not possible... there are so many things but this is the only way to explain the errors... very grotesque, bordering on the ridiculous.

we've gone past that stage when football was totally fun and everything that happened was almost free and fair to the best ability of the referee. Even without the help of the VAR, we still witnessed great decision that were in most cases at least moderate enough. The VAR is supposed to serve as an improvement on the limitations of working with the referee alone but sadly, they are currently working hands in hand to make free and fair games practically impossible as it stands.

When it comes to close range offside like what happens in most games, the referee in collaboration with the VAR makes the final decision even when for most cases it's supposed to be a goal and the decision ends up being turned aside. Real Madrid has enjoyed a lot of this sort of decision that appears as cheating but because the angle VAR project on the screens usually says otherwise, what then can you do than to stick with whatever final result they give to you?

[Cookdata]

The referees are an integral part of any game I know this but tonight happened something unique and very strange,Southampton lost my bet because of VAR as I had both teams to score,the same with Athletic Bilbao as I had it both teams to score and in both cases the referees impacted the game,somewhat more in La Liga in Spain but I had really nice tickets with many other games that were lost only because of the referees wrong decisions regarding me as I saw the game and I think you cannot disallow 2 goals when the cases were to say the least doubtful.

Should UEFA do something about the referees,these guys have everything in their hand and can make the game go any result and I will say again that famous saying from a local coach where I live as he were leading the first place and lost against last place at home,in the end of the game he said explicitly (With this referee even Brazil could not win tonight)?

Game manipulation to favour a particular people is something Fifa is aware about and very sure they have conduct they follow just to guide people and protest the reputation of football. If such is deep into system and spill the things they have created. Imagine people that lose in football match and tournament, start winning and their games, it will raise a question and people wouldn't be interested in gambling again because of this competition.

If they want to really clean up this awful things done by the referees, I will be please if they start from making sure that any coaches that unfavour Vinicious suspend for a whole season, they don't even need to make any more strict rules coaches will want to adhere to but suspension from weeks or month and salary slash will work as none of them would put their work online. They wouldn't dare if their work place is put to about to be compromise that it will make them not be a referees again.

[criptoevangelista]

Very true! The problems with the refs are global because there are no top referees in the last couple of years but also we have no young refs who are skillful enough to actually be part of top games in strong championships. We also had a lot of problems in UCL last year with a lot of games where refs ruined the game, then we had both Euro and Copa America where once again the refs ruined a lot of games and made a lot of bad decisions that led to goals or important scoring chances. That's why , I think FIFA needs to find a way very soon to improve the refs skills within one year maximum or situation will be even worse .

I don't know how it works in your country, but here football referees usually have another job and use the refereeing profession as a supplement to their income. The vast majority of referee are like this, that is, the salary is low, the competition is high and the referee is very susceptible to corruption. Perhaps if there were a career plan or better professionalization of this profession so that the person could work exclusively as a football referee, things could improve. Apart from that, if nothing changes, it will always be like this...

we've gone past that stage when football was totally fun and everything that happened was almost free and fair to the best ability of the referee. Even without the help of the VAR, we still witnessed great decision that were in most cases at least moderate enough. The VAR is supposed to serve as an improvement on the limitations of working with the referee alone but sadly, they are currently working hands in hand to make free and fair games practically impossible as it stands.

When it comes to close range offside like what happens in most games, the referee in collaboration with the VAR makes the final decision even when for most cases it's supposed to be a goal and the decision ends up being turned aside. Real Madrid has enjoyed a lot of this sort of decision that appears as cheating but because the angle VAR project on the screens usually says otherwise, what then can you do than to stick with whatever final result they give to you?

I still think that VAR is a kind of crutch for refereeing professionals, there is an absurd dependence on it and this is worsening the quality of referees a lot, because, whatever it is, they will immediately consult VAR, which should simply be a complementary tool to be used only in extreme cases of doubt.

[Alpha Marine]

Apparently, the complaints about football referees are on a global scale, and here too it is quite controversial, there is no point in VAR, there is no point in complaining, the errors still exist and some border on the bizarre, perhaps even with bad intentions... I still believe that many referees are bought to favor team A or team B, it is not possible... there are so many things but this is the only way to explain the errors... very grotesque, bordering on the ridiculous.

While I agree that refereeing is awful at times and they make a lot of errors even with the VAR and goal-line technology, I still think fans can never be satisfied. No matter the decision of the referee, especially in very controversial situations, there will be a portion of fans that will say it's a robbery if the decision doesn't go their way. If the decision favours them they'll say it was the right decision.

Let's take the Barcelona game on Saturday for example. Athletic Club were given a penalty and Barcelona fans felt they had been robbed. The on-field decision by the referee was no foul, but VAR called him back and asked him to review it, he reviewed it and gave the Barcelona player a yellow card and awarded a penalty for Athletic Club.
Now if I'm to judge that case, I'll say it's a clear penalty, but not a yellow card because the Barcelona defender slipped and fell on the leg of the Bilbao player. He roughed him and prevented him from scoring, but he didn't do it intentionally because he slipped so it shouldn't be a yellow card.

I know that the technologies have not been perfect, but in my opinion, it has made football fairer than it used to be. Before the bigger teams have so much more favour than the smaller teams in a match, but today it it no longer that much.