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▲ Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korean Football Federation, is taking a commemorative photo with the men and women referees who will serve as FIFA international referees in 2023. |
[케이에스피뉴스=김아영 스포츠전문기자 kspa@kspnews.com] A venue has been prepared to bring soccer referees together in one place to settle the score for the year and strengthen their will to produce World Cup referees.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) held the 2022 KFA referees’ conference at the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Swiss Hotel in Hongeun-dong, Seoul on 21. The event kicked off with the 2023 FIFA International Referee Badge Ceremony, followed by the 2022 settlement of accounts and the announcement of the 2023 referee development policy, the Qatar World Cup rating bias analysis, talks on the issue of judges and the awarding of excellent referees.
First, the badges were awarded to male and female chief and assistant referees who will serve as international referees next year. This year there are 27 international referees: 7 male referees, 9 male assistant referees, 4 female referees, 4 female assistant referees, 2 male futsal referees and 1 beach soccer referee. The Insignia Presentation Ceremony was prepared by the KFA to award the FIFA insignia to international referees to give them qualifications for international competitions and at the same time increase their pride as international referees.
Subsequently, KFA referee chairman Moon Jin-hee established this year’s refereeing activities and explained next year’s refereeing operation. In particular, President Moon highlighted the production of World Cup referees at this meeting, saying, “For the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup, we have the task of producing Korean referees. We will continue to coach and manage candidates who are close to our goal, so we can advance to the Finals.”
Korea has produced at least one assistant referee from the 1994 World Cup in the United States to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, they have failed to send a World Cup referee due to of FIFA’s policy of training principal and assistant referees from the same country or the same language.
President Moon also announced plans to assign a female referee to K-League 2 next year. Through this, the female referees also said they would pave the way for the World Cup.
Sukhiddin Bin Mod Saleh, FIFA Referee Instructor and KFA Chief Referee Instructor, who followed as a speaker, gave his opinion on the refereeing decision of the World Cup in Qatar. Coach Sukidin also mentioned technical elements related to refereeing decisions, such as VAR and the semi-automatic offside system, as well as analyzing the key judgments of this World Cup.
In the afternoon, while commentator Han Jun-hee led the discussion, coach Sukidin, national under-20 coach Kim Eun-joong, referee coach Yoo Byung-seop and international referee Kim Jong-hyeok attended and discussed the main judgment cases of this year’s national and international games as panels.
The event concluded with awards for outstanding referees and retired referees, including the awarding of merit plaques to Kang Chi-don, a former KFA referee instructor who has long devoted himself to referee education.
Referee Kim Jong-hyeok, who attended the event, said, “I heard the KFA would make an aggressive effort to produce referees for the World Cup. All soccer referees dream of participating in the World Cup. . I also suffered once while serving as a referee, but I want to prove myself as long as my body allows. Even if I can’t go to the World Cup as a referee, I want to go to the World Cup as a referee instructor or a referee judge.
Referee Kim Gyeong-min, who has competed in the Women’s World Cup four times in a row, has expressed her desire to become the first female Qatar World Cup referee to be like Frafar, who was in charge of refereeing the finals of the World Cup. “I think Judge Prafar motivated all the judges. It must have been hard work to get there. I respect referee Frapar’s efforts and hope that Korean women referees can also take the stage at the (men’s) World Cup in the future.”
Referee Kim Kyung-min has served as a referee for four consecutive Women’s World Cups, starting with the 2007 Women’s World Cup held in China and ending with the 2019 French Tournament, and has also worked as an assistant referee in K League 2.
# FIFA 2023 international referee list (total 27)
Male referees Hyungjin Koh, Jonghyuk Kim, Daeyong Kim, Heegon Kim, Woosung Kim, Sanghyup Chae, Hyunjae Choi (7)
Male Judges Dong-ho Kang, Seung-soon Kwak, Tae-hyeong Kim, Gyun-yong Park, Sang-joon Park, Gi-yeol Bang, Bong-geun Song, Jae-yeol Yoon, Jong-pil Jang (9)
Female Referee Kim Yoo-jung, Park Se-jin, Oh Hyun-jeong, Cha Min-ji (4)
Female Judges Kyung-Min Kim, Mi-Sook Park, Seon-Young Yang, Seoul-Gi Lee (4)
Men’s Futsal Daesung Moon, Youngha Cho (2 players)
Beach soccer player Choi Young-in (1 player)
