Opening of the AFF assessor referee course 2024

On the morning of March 4, the 2024 AFF assessor referee course, directly organized by AFF, officially opened. The course will take place for 6 days, from March 4 to March 9 in Hanoi.

  09/03/2024 12:12:06

Mr. Tran Anh Tu – Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation attended the opening ceremony. Also attending were: Mohamad Rodzali Yacob – FIFA Referee Development Officer along with two instructors John Chia Eng Wah, and Widiya Habibah Shamsuri, and 28 trainees who are currently assessors referees from 11 member countries of Southeast Asia, including 02 female assessors of the Malaysian and Myanmar Football Federations. As the host and venue for the course, Vietnam has 04 assessor referees attending: Mr. Dang Thanh Ha – Head of the Vietnam Football Federation Referee Committee, Mr. Vo Quang Vinh – Deputy Vietnam Football Federation Referee Committee, Mr. Vo Minh Tri – Member of the Vietnam Football Federation Arbitration Committee and Mr. Duong Van Hien. These are also 4 instructors who regularly participate in training and referee training classes organized by VFF.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Tran Anh Tu – Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation sent greetings to the instructors and referee assessor of Southeast Asian member countries and thanked AFF for choosing Hanoi to be the location where the AFF referee assessor course takes place. Mr. Tran Anh Tu – Vice President of VFF affirmed that VFF will provide the best support for the organization of the course to be successful. “For us, referee assessor courses are very important, because referee assessor and referees have to work under great pressure, requiring constant improvement of qualifications. These training courses are the conditions to improve the qualifications of the referee. Once again, on behalf of VFF, thank the FIFA instructors and experts, as well as the referee assessor forces in the countries who attended the training course. Hopefully, we will develop Southeast Asian football together…”.

At the opening ceremony, on behalf of the course Organizing Committee, Mr. Mohamad Rodzali Yacob – FIFA Referee Development Officer welcomed all the trainees who were fully present in Hanoi to participate in the referee assessors program of AFF in early 2024. “This course will also prepare for the upcoming 2024 Southeast Asian Club Championship. On behalf of FIFA, AFF would like to thank VFF for supporting the organization of the AFF referee assessors course in 2024. I hope this course will be an opportunity for us to improve football in general. As you all know, referees play an important role in football. Therefore, referee assessors courses are also expected to help improve arbitration globally. The main content in this course we want to focus on is FIFA male referees (Non-AFC Elite) and FIFA female referees (Elite & Non-Elite) towards the AFF Championship, ASEAN Club Championship, and AFF Mitsubishi tournaments which will be handled by the Southeast Asian referee assessors. Meanwhile, female referee assessors in Southeast Asia are still doing a good job at AFF and AFC tournaments. Once again, I would like to emphasize that our goal is to have the best referees in all member federations in Southeast Asia ready to serve at AFC and FIFA tournaments”, Mr. Mohamad Rodzali Yacob said.

As one of two instructors directly teaching the course, Mr. John Chia Eng Wah expressed his joy and pride in being present in Hanoi to meet all his colleagues. “I would like to personally thank the Vietnam Football Federation as well as the presence of Vice President of the Vietnam Football Federation Tran Anh Tu, along with the warm welcome. All of today’s course attendees are experienced referee assessors and even instructors. Therefore, I hope everyone will see this as a good opportunity and understand what they have to do for the upcoming tournaments in Southeast Asia. In this course, let’s discuss with the instructor and the rest of the trainees, working together for a strongly developed Southeast Asian referee force,” Mr. John Chia emphasized.

AFF Referee Assessor Course 2024, taking place from March 4 to March 9 at Sunway Hanoi Hotel, with many contents related to updating competition laws and the role of referee assessor, skills to handle some situations taking place on the field, and discuss. Some basic content about VAR is also covered in this course. Practice sessions on refereeing activities at AFF tournaments will take place on March 7 and 8 at the field of the Vietnam Youth Football Training Center.

In 2024, it is expected that there will be 04 AFF tournaments including: AFF Futsal 2024 (May 11 – May 19), AFF U16 Men 2024 (June 17 – June 29), AFF U19 Men 2024 (June 20 – July 3), AFF Beach soccer (November 10 – November 16) and the region’s biggest tournament AFF Cup 2024 (November 23 – December 21). Therefore, the 2024 AFF referee assessor course not only helps assessors have the opportunity to exchange and improve their skills but is also a condition to perfect the arbitration work in Southeast Asia, before entering tournaments during the year.