FIFA Referee Chief Pierluigi Collina has been invited to India by AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey to help improve the standard of refereeing in the country. The official social media pages of the AIFF have revealed plans for a two-day workshop later this year.
Chaubey met the Referee Chief at the 74th FIFA Congress in Thailand, where the two discussed the plans for the workshop.
AIFF invites FIFA Referee Chief Pierluigi Collina for workshop
𝗔𝗜𝗙𝗙 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗜𝗙𝗔 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘂𝗶𝗴𝗶 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮.
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) May 18, 2024
AIFF President @kalyanchaubey had the honour of meeting FIFA Referee Chief Pierluigi Collina at 74th FIFA Congress, Thailand.
Keen to improve… pic.twitter.com/HnvrHDqm27
The country currently has an 18-member Elite Match Officials panel, but doesn’t use VAR like other leagues across the world. Plans for implementing the technology have been discussed by the AIFF, but it will take until 2025 or 2026 to facilitate the complete installation of the system.
Improving the quality of refereeing across the various leagues in the country would not doubt improve the standard of play. And guidance from the team at FIFA should help the Indian officials become better at their skills.
This marks yet another instance where FIFA is directly engaging with the AIFF to help boost Indian football after visits from Arsene Wenger to help build youth academies and president Gianni Infantino himself to endorse the Santosh Trophy.
