Courtesy: The AFC.com


Japan trains more futsal referees

Friday, 21 September 2012

Tokyo: Japan is implementing new and necessary measures to develop dedicated futsal referees in a move to counter the problem of inadequate number of officials in the fast developing game.

The Japan Football Association (JFA) Referees Department made a presentation on futsal referees during the second day of the AFC Member Association and Club Futsal Development Assessment Visit to the East Asian nation on Friday.

During the presentation, the department’s Director, Kazuyuki Yukawa, said: "There are currently 22,637 certified futsal referees in Japan in five categories, consisting FIFA Referees (four), First Class Futsal Referees (37, with 22 of them F-League Referees), Second Class Futsal Referees (866), Third Class Futsal Referees (3,694) and Fourth Class Futsal Referees (18,036).

"However, the JFA is facing a problem in recruiting new futsal referees, as there are many football referees playing a dual role as futsal referee.

“To counter this problem, the JFA is implementing new and necessary measures to develop dedicated futsal referees as soon as possible as professionalisation is an important step to ensure the development and improvement of Japanese futsal, particularly futsal refereeing."

AFC Futsal Director Ali Targholizade, who is heading the team conducting the assessment visit, said:

"If Asian futsal standard is improving, then we can be a world beater and compete against the best, especially those from Europe and South America.

“So, knowledge must be shared but not kept. Japan and Iran, I believe, can be and should be the benchmark of Asian futsal and example for others to follow.

“It is my wish to see an even more interesting and competitive AFC Futsal Championship in 2014.”

The AFC delegation and JFA representatives then proceeded to visit one of the 10 elite clubs in the Japan Futsal League (top tier), Bardral Urayasu, who won the Puma Cup, a knock-out competition, in 2008, and take a look at their office and home arena, the Urayasu City Gymnasium.

The visit aims to review current AFC Futsal MAs’ activities and procedures, to study the development of futsal in Asia, to exchange futsal experiences among MAs and synchronise top-level MAs’ futsal activities, among others.

Japan is the first member association to receive the assessment visit.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com