VAR Implementation »What the League 1 clubs want

The conclusion reached by the LPF holder is that The Romanian Football Federation shall cover the costs of implementing video refereeing in League 1.. In order for the discussions to be unblocked, Gino Iorgulescu requested a clarification meeting for next week with Răzvan Burleanu (FRF president) and Orlando Nicoară (representative of eAD, the company that owns the television rights to the League 1 matches).

The LPF excludes the option of contributing financially to the training of arbitrators, as this would be outside the law. Y if FRF refuses to pay the costs of the introduction of the VAR, Gino Iorgulescu threatens complaints to the Court of Arbitration for Sport!

Optimistic variant: VAR in 6 months!

If the FRF agrees to pay for the training of the referees, League 1 would have the VAR in the best of cases in 6 months, as the president of the League says: “The schooling of the referees lasts at least 6 months. If we unblock the situation, in 6 months, maybe 8, only then can we have VAR ”.

Here are the most important statements from the press conference.:

Gino Iorgulescu, President of LPF:

• “It was a meeting of the LPF, in which we wanted to inform about what is happening with the VAR system, there is a lot of speculation and we wanted to clarify with the clubs what situation we are in. I concluded that we should make another trip to FRF, for a meeting with the representative of television rights and with Mr. Burleanu, to unblock this situation ”.
• “Referee schooling lasts at least 6 months. If we unlock the situation, in 6 months, maybe 8, only then can we have VAR. Maybe we can use those two brigades to have VAR, as Mr. Avram said. We could. implement this option in some very important matches. If not, we wait and when we are ready, we enter with all the matches. “
• “If FRF does not pay, it would mean postponing the implementation of the VAR. I hope they find money, they took it from UEFA and FIFA for certain projects, maybe they have some money left to use. Maybe they borrow, they take money up front, I don’t know. They talked about the situation of paying us, but the problem is that the same money is paid every year. We, in the League, cannot pay the FRF. They train the referees, delegate them, make them responsible and They have all the attributes. So should we pay? Would they pay for us? Clubs said they don’t accept to pay, except 1-2, one of which was probably the voice of the Federation. The clubs continue to fight with the money they have ”.
• “(Burleanu) He called me to the Federation, I introduce myself to him who is older than me. Me for him, not him for me. I’m going, let’s see if we can unblock this situation. Mr. Orlando Nicoară from eAD called me, let’s go together , let him be the moderator. “
• “It was discussed that FRF should not pay, let’s see if we can go to TAS one way or another. We cannot make this expense legally, then we see what happens, we will not stay like this ”.
• “I saw many games with big referee errors, which vitiated the results. A lot of money, bad service. At each stage there are games with big referee errors and the BCC does not take drastic measures, on the idea of” let it go like this. ” much to be desired “
• We also discuss the issue of stadiums, we will see what steps we can take for licensing. More measures should be followed when granting licenses, let’s see how we can solve this problem “

Justin Ștefan, LPF Secretary General:

• “The meeting lasted a long time, we took the story from the beginning, from 2018, when the first steps were taken to implement the VAR. FRF used FIFA funds for other projects instead of the VAR. The LPF is responsible for providing the technology and operation of the VAR, and the FRF is responsible for training the referees. I saw all kinds of misinformation in public space. LPF did not want to lead this project, we did not require that FRF have a project manager in the area of ​​referee training for VAR. I proposed to have a leadership as follows: FRF through Mr. Deaconu to lead the coordination of the referees, and LPF through Mr. Pongratz, and then through Mr. Avram, to organize what the technological part means ”.
• “As for the technological part, things are resolved. We do not have only 2 VAR cars, but 4. Two fully equipped, which can provide VAR service, and another two that will be equipped as soon as a contract between LPF and FRF is concluded. There were voices in the public space that said that we have to pay these expenses. The law is very clear, these expenses must be assumed by the FRF. It is not a negotiation, they are supported by those who must according to the law. The delegation of the VAR arbitrators will be made by the BCC, there is no interest of the LPF in having any interference in this activity ”.
• “The money is still available on the FIFA Forward 2.0 platform for the FRF to access. As for the financial support of the FRF through a possible loan, it cannot be done. It would be illegal, as we do not have arbitrations of our part. League 1 clubs cannot vote to provide financial support, they cannot vote against the mandatory rules. “
• “We just realized that we couldn’t afford to go beyond the rules. We certainly will not violate these things. We are bothered by the fact that for FRF VAR arbitration is not a priority. We are all witnesses to arbitrations that influence the results and I believe that the FRF should be the first forum interested in solving this problem. The expenses related to the referees have always been borne by the Federation ”.
• We have approached FIFA for mediation at the institutional level, and to the extent that they cannot reach a common denominator, we will reach an unpleasant situation, to ask for the help of TAS to help us do our work. Here we cannot speak of pride, but of refusal to apply the rules ”.

Marius Avram, VAR project manager at LPF:

• “In my short time at LPF I tried to make an X-ray of what happened since 2018. I presented it to the club presidents and explained to them in terms of costs what the existence of the VAR would mean. Romania currently has two VAR-ready stadiums and two VAR-certified referee squads, led by Ovidiu Hațegan and Istvan Kovacs, for which FIFA allows it to play VAR matches. One of the teams may be in the field and the other in the VAR booth. We will see how quickly we can move forward, we have not yet received an answer if this is possible ”.
• “LPF has nothing to do with training umpires, but we are interested in having them trained. We weren’t interested in details about how much FRF spends that money on umpires. I have heard of umpires’ allowances, from the ground. I think most of the expenses will go to the use of that technical equipment and the accommodation of the referees, their allowances, the training matches. You have to ask at FRF. What I presented to the clubs is that you have to pay certain expenses ”.
• “The two referees of the VAR and the coach, the clubs have to carry the balance of referees. It is about hundreds of thousands of euros every year. That coach has to be paid, they are also a few hundred thousand euros a year. The costs of 550,000 euros represent the costs of an initial training of the referees, to be able to start the VAR in Romania. But a permanent follow-up is needed, a percentage of these costs will have to be paid every year “.

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