Watch: Football Video Support introduction will eradicate clear and obvious mistakes, says Malta referees’ chief

The Malta Football Association unveiled the Football Video Support system that will be deployed in the domestic competitions as of this season.

For several years, football pundits, club officials, players, and fans have been united in their call for technology to be introduced in Maltese football, aiming to help referees provide fair officiating in all matches.

This plight is set to become a reality as of November, when the Football Video Support will make its debut in the Last 16 matches of the Jubilee Cup.

The Football Video Support (FVS) and Video Support (VS) systems will allow coaches to request reviews of key match incidents – including goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity.

“It’s a historic day for Maltese as we reached a milestone that we have been working on for several years now,” Alan Mario Sant, the Malta Referees chairman, told the Times of Malta.

“It’s a proud moment for Maltese football to launch this initiative. Technology in football has been on our agenda since VAR was introduced.

“While we recognised the importance of technology support, we realised that we couldn’t have the full VAR package due to financial restrictions. But that didn’t stop us from continuing to invest, and in the last three years, we trained our match officials on the VAR technology so that they would have the knowledge to officiate matches that use this technology.”

Sant said that the MFA immediately showed interest in adopting the Football Video Support once the technology was introduced by UEFA, and in fact, Malta is one of three countries trialling this system, along with Italy and Spain.

“The Football Video Support system is far less complicated than VAR as you need much less cameras to operate it,” Sant said.

“Its main aim is to remove all the clear and obvious mistakes made by the referees. This system is beneficial not just for the match officials but to the football community as it will make the game as fair as possible. This is a trial system at the moment, and we will send all the necessary data to FIFA so it can analyse, and hopefully the FVS will become a recognised system that is used by all the associations in the near future.”

Present for the news conference was Massimo Busacca, FIFA’s Head of Referees, who said that technology has certainly put match officials in a better place and said that its introduction to Maltese football will certainly create more discussion around the Beautiful Game.

“I want to be very clear, it was not referees who asked for technology, but football asked for technology so that we can eliminate mistakes,” Busacca told the Times of Malta.

“That is because football has to be perfect, and referees cannot be perfect like players, you and me. And in every job, nobody can be perfect.

“Today, in football, results are very important, and teams don’t want to lose matches with a clear mistake.

“And I think, when there is a big business, the introduction of technology was mandatory, and that is why we arrive with VAR and today, allowing smaller associations to use the Football Video Support with three and four cameras, you can eliminate mistakes.”

“Referees in the past had to be convinced of the decision, but today, with the introduction of technology, it’s different, as it is a process that they admit that they could be wrong and go to the system to make sure the right decision was taken,” Busacca said.

“As with every process, it takes some time, as nobody likes to admit that he has made a mistake. But I am sure that it will work, and in today’s game, we must have technology to try and eliminate as many mistakes as possible.”

The Football Video Support will be used in the Last 16 stage of the Jubilee Cup, the FA Trophy, as well as the Top Six and the Bottom Six of both the Opening Round and Closing Round, and the Top Four play-offs of the Malta Premier League.