Focus on Qatar
World Cup
, the photo of our referees Shi Xiang, Maning and Cao Yi is reflected in the eyes. Photo credit: Interviewee.
Bian Liqun/CNN
"National referees have had their credibility questioned in recent years, but they have earned respect for their tireless efforts." Talking about the trio's selection for Qatar
World Cup
Referee list, Liu Tiejun, head of the referee department of the CFA, exclaimed to CNN.
Their efforts did not happen overnight. Back in Russia
World Cup
On the eve, our refereeing team kicked off a long and grueling Qatar
World Cup
Journey. Daily fitness monitoring, referee theory test, match video case study, English proficiency test ......
Under the strict scrutiny of FIFA, referees need to improve themselves on all fronts without any negligence or mistakes.
Referee Manning revealed that they need to do 2 to 3 hours of intense physical training every day. Before the match, they spend a whole day studying the tactics and techniques of both sides, key players and so on.
Opportunity always comes to those who are prepared. Our referee team finally stood out and succeeded in making the final list. They won respect for our soccer referees and brought a hint of surprise to the national soccer team in the doldrums.
Reporter: Three of our referees selected for Qatar
World Cup
What is the significance of this historic breakthrough in the list of referees?
Liu Tiejun: This is the affirmation of the overall level of China's referees, the affirmation of the legal level of the selected referees, and the affirmation of the referee training work of the CFA. In the future, there will be more referees from China to exercise and show themselves in the World Championship.
It is believed that the selection of three of our referees will inspire more active referees to work hard, form self-identity, scientifically plan the direction of development, and will attract more people to devote themselves to the cause of soccer refereeing.
Despite the low credibility of national soccer referees in recent years, they have proven their worth with their quiet efforts.
Reporter: Is it gold to be on this final list?
Liu Tiejun: the selection is enough to prove that the talent and level of our referee team has reached the top of Asia and the world. In FIFA announced the current
World Cup
When the list of referees was introduced, Mr. Corina, Chairman of the FIFA Referee Committee, said that the referees selected for this list represent the highest level of refereeing in the world today.
Our referee team enforcing matches overseas. Photo credit: Interviewee.
Reporter: What is the selection process like? What kind of tests do you need to go through?
Manning: we first had to go through the AFC selection process before getting into FIFA's scouting horizons. Back in Russia 2018
World Cup
In previous years, the AFC had actually begun tracking and scouting young referees across Asia, with Russia
World Cup
A dozen groups of judges were selected as initial candidates after the conclusion.
In late 2018, the AFC identified and reported the Qatar
World Cup
The first round of shortlists for referees, which do not include referees who have already refereed the Russia
World Cup
The referee.
By 2019, FIFA began to formally fully assess and evaluate the referees who made the first round of the waiting list through various competitions and trainings, from which four groups of referees were selected, plus the legal over the Russia
World Cup
of age-appropriate referees, selected into a list of eight groups.
From the beginning of 2020 to the just-concluded group stage of the 2022 AFC Champions League, FIFA conducted a final round of inspections and evaluations of these eight groups of referees before confirming this final list.
Reporter: What are some of the hurdles that are faced during this long expedition cycle?
Manning: Each round of FIFA's assessment of candidate referees is all-rounded, including daily physical fitness monitoring, regular physical testing, referee theory assessment, match video case analysis, English proficiency test, and tournament law enforcement level assessment, which requires that our candidate referees must not have any shortcomings, slackness, negligence, and must do their best.
In terms of physical fitness, for example, we train gruelingly for two to three hours every day.
The standard of fitness test is very high, according to the World Cup referee fitness test standard, in the short distance sprint ability test, each of the six consecutive 40 meter sprint runs must not be longer than 5.8 seconds, and each interval must not be longer than 1 minute.
Interval running test 75 meters fast run in 15 seconds, 25 meters slow run in 15 seconds, 40 consecutive cycles, etc.
In addition, FIFA specifically assigns technical lecturers to follow up and evaluate every match that we referees enforce, which includes the home league we enforce, and requires us to enforce matches in accordance with FIFA's philosophy and standards, which requires candidate referees to prepare for every match with all their might.
Our referee team will do a lot of pre-game preparation before each game, study and analyze the technical and tactical play of both sides of the game, the characteristics of the players and coaches, key players, the history of the game teams, various influencing factors, etc., and spend almost a whole day's time on video analysis of the game alone.
In fact, soccer referees, like everyone else, inevitably make mistakes in their lives and work, but FIFA has very high requirements for referees, so referees must make fewer mistakes in enforcing matches, not to mention major mistakes.
FIFA arranges such a long inspection period to make a comprehensive evaluation of the candidate referees, to exclude chance events, and also to require the referees to have a lasting and stable high level of law enforcement competitive status.
This selection process was also affected by the epidemic, which made the road for our referees to impact the World Cup even more difficult. During the scouting period, the referees were required to play high-level matches, and at the same time, they also had to consider the epidemic prevention, and the long time of playing in foreign countries made everyone's mental and psychological pressure very high.
And it was also necessary to maintain physical fitness during the isolation period. After all, the space in the isolation room was limited and there was a lack of training equipment, but we overcame all the difficulties and always maintained good physical fitness and athleticism.
Our referee team goes overseas to enforce matches. Photo credit: Interviewee.
Reporter: The epidemic did bring a lot of difficulties to the selection process, what kind of support did the CFA give you in this selection process?
Cao Yi: In the past few years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the CFA has actively promoted the referees to actively participate in the online training of FIFA, UEFA and AFC, and invited the top lecturers of FIFA to give lectures to the referees of the leagues in an online way.
Although we are abroad, we will overcome the problem of jet lag and actively participate in these online studies to continuously learn the latest legal concepts and knowledge of FIFA.
When we return to China to participate in league enforcement, the CFA will also try to send us to enforce high-level, high-quality matches, and during the national team's training and preparation, we will also be invited to enforce the practice matches, which allows us to maintain a higher state of law enforcement during the period of time we are in the country.
Shi Xiang: Epidemic these years, entry and exit visas, round trips and many other work are faced with unprecedented trouble, the CFA departments to protect our travel, but also actively coordinate with the AFC, FIFA, tournament hosting associations to give us stay in West Asia, local and international trip booking provides great convenience.
Many Chinese embassies in West Asia have also provided support and care during the tournament while we were abroad.
