On October 15, a meeting was held at the House of Football with the participation of representatives of UPL clubs. One of the issues presented for consideration was changes in the refereeing system. All clubs unanimously supported the document, which contains concrete steps for the reform of arbitration in Ukraine. Now it should be considered by the Ukrainian Football Association.

Football.ua turned to the general director of FC Polissia, Volodymyr Zagurskyi, with a request to explain what kind of initiative this is and what led the clubs to such unanimity in voting on arbitration issues.

– Volodymyr Frantzovich, what prompted the clubs to delve into the issue of arbitration?

– Dissatisfaction of the Premier League clubs with the level of refereeing, which was demonstrated even last year. Almost every round there were unclear refereeing decisions and there was no feedback from the UAF Referee Committee. What’s more, when UPL clubs tried to find some truth, the Committee of Referees covered themselves with some, as it later turned out, non-existent convention, which, as it were, forbade any communication between the clubs with representatives of the Committee of Referees and directly with the referees who serve these matches.

There was dissatisfaction on the part of club managers, in particular, our president Gennady Butkevich. He is also in constant communication with the majority of UPL club presidents. In January, when there was a working meeting between the representatives of the UPL clubs and the heads of the UAF, in particular, Kateryna Monzul of the Committee of Referees. In fact, we have not received any explanations, graphs or figures that would convince UPL clubs that we are doing well and nothing needs to be changed.

After that, there was an appeal to the president of the Ukrainian Football Association, Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, regarding the state of affairs in refereeing, which was signed by 11 or 12 clubs at that time. Only four clubs did not sign: Dynamo, Shakhtar, Vorskla and Rukh. Accordingly, we addressed this letter to the UAF, which convened a meeting again in May. We emphasized that 4 months have passed since we submitted our reform proposals. In addition, we conducted a thorough analysis, together with the representatives of the management apparatus of the Premier League, regarding which European championships and how the arbitration mechanism is arranged from the point of view of regulatory documents.

– Which countries were analyzed?

– We analyzed England, Germany, France and our neighbors – Poland and the Czech Republic. Accordingly, they adopted systems created in England and Germany. At a meeting with the management of the UAF in May, it was agreed that a working group would be created from representatives who are willing to go and take over the experience.

In July, by agreement with the General Secretary of the UAF Ihor Hryschenko and representatives of the DFB (German Football Association), we visited the headquarters of the German association. We were met by Knut Kircher, CEO of DFB Schiri GmbH (a separate organization responsible for the training and work of referees in Germany). He deals with referee training and communication between clubs and the association. He himself is a former referee who officiated Bundesliga matches.

At this meeting, we got answers to all the questions we had. In particular, we said that in any communication with the Committee of Arbitrators, we are referred to some convention that prohibits these actions. He smiled and said: “You are a European club under the jurisdiction of UEFA? So we can’t have different conventions.”

– And how does this communication between clubs and referees function in Germany?

– For example, there was a controversial episode in the match. In them, the head of the separately created, independent organization DFB Schiri GmbH directly contacts the president, general director of the club and, on behalf of the representative of the refereeing corps, explains why the referee was right or wrong. Because the referees’ actions are analyzed after each match and the referees receive evaluations.

If the umpire really made a mistake, they will admit that mistake. Of course, points are not returned to the team that lost them, but in this way they declare and implement transparency in making certain decisions. They draw attention to the fact that there really can be a human factor, no one has canceled it. But they either openly admit their mistakes, or are confident in their decisions and explain it.

This whole system became possible thanks to the fact that in 2022 they came to create a separate legal structure, the Board of Directors of which includes three representatives of the German Football Association and two representatives of the leagues. The service area of ​​this organization is, in fact, only professional competitions: Bundesliga, Bundesliga 2 and Bundesliga 3, as well as the Super Cup and the German Cup. But the national association continues to deal with the issue of training young referees.

To date, we have taken as an example two reference systems in Europe: England and Germany. We gained good experience in these countries: we put the practical cases that the general director of this organization told us on paper, and yesterday, by unanimous decision, all 16 UPL clubs supported these proposals regarding the reform of football arbitration in Ukraine. Now these proposals have been sent to the Ukrainian Football Association.

– What expectations do you have regarding the UAF decision? Are they willing to cooperate in this matter?

– I cannot speak for other persons. But, for example, in January or May, no club received any assurance that this reform would be supported. Further, we stand our ground: we believe that a very important guarantee for the further development of professional football in Ukraine, especially in times of war, should be honest and impartial arbitration. The pride of our club is that the initiative that came from Polissya, just six months later, received full support from all UPL clubs.

– What step are the clubs waiting for from UAF?

– We are waiting for the fulfillment of the promises made by the UAF that they will not create obstacles and are in full solidarity with the clubs in the matter of referee reform. The implementation of this project is possible only through the joint efforts of the clubs and the UAF. Any format, as in England or Germany, involves the participation of representatives of the national association in the work of this new body. This project is not possible without the national association. Therefore, we are waiting for positive feedback and clean, transparent partnership.