Diniyar Bilyaletdinov: “There was a module on VAR during training, we all quarreled there”

Former Lokomotiv midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov believes that Russian football has not yet developed a system for explaining decisions made using VAR.

— With the advent of VAR, AVAR, has refereeing become better?

– Hard to say. It seems to me that we have not yet debugged the system for explaining some decisions of referees and VAR. Including so that the public understands what is happening. Because even in my studies there was a module on VAR, we all quarreled there. So there are such difficult moments here. Maybe over time this will all be tweaked and adjusted, but so far no noticeable improvement has been observed.

— There was an idea that after the match the referees would come out and explain their decisions. Could this help reduce conflicts?

— Not every game has controversial moments. There are some stories when analytical programs analyze this or that situation and this is done by people familiar with VAR: former referees, for example, VAR referees. Controversial issues are shown in one way or another in such programs. There mistakes are admitted, successful moments are recognized, but there is also a certain subjectivity. There is a person who has a sports background, he sees one thing. But a person who has no experience in sports or high achievements has a different opinion. How to find the middle is a big question.

— Double standards in very similar moments—is this a story about incompetence or about bias?

“The human factor also cannot be ignored. But in general there are recommendations, there is a huge thick book on the rules of football. And there are a lot of questions, even regarding the recommendations that UEFA gives. I know that before each Russian championship a lot of amendments are made, specifically for our championship. These amendments should perhaps be included in some separate code. Because the UEFA recommendation book also leaves many questions,” Metaratings.ru quotes Bilyaletdinov as saying.

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