UEFA had already announced last month that it would do more
to explain decisions to teams, requiring in turn that only captains can
approach the referees to discuss them.
And that was emphasized on Wednesday at a media briefing on
refereeing guidelines for Euro 2024 that took place at Munich’s Allianz
Stadium, two days before host nation Germany kicks off the tournament in the
same venue against Scotland.
“Only the captain will approach the referee, the other
players they have to think about (playing). That’s it, finish,” UEFA managing
director for refereeing Roberto Rosetti said.
UEFA has promised that the referees will attempt to give the
captains an explanation of key incidents during the match, including what was
discussed with VAR.
Any teammate ignoring his captain’s role and approaching the
referee showing any sign of disrespect or dissent will receive a yellow card.
Fans, meanwhile, will also get a better understanding of VAR
decisions as they will be broadcast on the giant screens in stadiums.
“This is something new. I think it’s very, very, very
interesting,” Rosetti said. “So we want to give, after the opinion of VAR, a
technical explanation for the public. In live, simultaneously, the UEFA expert
will prepare the explanation, a technical explanation about what happened in
the specific situation.
“For example, on-field review, the referee awards a penalty
for handball…technical explanation: Germany number nine touch the ball with his
left arm which was in an unnatural position above the shoulder and making his
body bigger.”
Rosetti has met with all the teams participating at Euro
2024 and their coaches to present the refereeing guidelines for the tournament,
including hammering home that any dangerous tackles will be severely punished.
“One of the most important priority in refereeing guidelines
is to protect the players,” Rosetti said. “To protect the image of the game,
but in particular to protect the safety of the main actors of the games.
“We showed them a couple of clips that we are asking to the referees to be very strong in these kind of situations,” he added. “So for such situations we asked to the referees to be zero tolerant because this is something that we cannot accept.” AP