The Saudi Arabian Football Association has granted Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Professional League clubs the right to use an unlimited number of foreign referees to manage their matches in the new season, as they did in the previous season.
Yesterday, the Saudi Arabia Federation Referee Committee held a meeting with representatives of the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Professional League clubs via video communication technology to discuss the mechanism for using non-Saudi referee teams during the next 2022-2023 sports season.
During the meeting, which was attended by Saudi Federation President Yasser Al-Mishal and Secretary General Ibrahim Al-Qasim, it was decided to continue to allow clubs to use non-Saudi referees without a specific ceiling, and the clubs unanimously agreed not to allow the club to cancel the request after it has been submitted to during the specified period.
The Referee Committee has reduced the conditions for applying for a non-Saudi crew so that it must be at least 14 days prior to the match date instead of 16; The allocated amount is paid at the time of application.
The head of the committee, Swiss Manuel Navarro, said that he continues to invite him to meetings with all club officials and discuss issues related to the arbitration system.
Navarro praised the continued cooperation of the clubs with the committee in order to move forward in raising the level of the Saudi referee as one of the most important pillars of the success of local competitions.
Notably, the Saudi Arabian Football Association, through the Referee Committee, approved a mechanism for requesting foreign referees last season, which was listed in two packages, the first costing 175,000 rials and the second costing more than 219,000 rials.
The first package provided for 4 non-Saudi rulers; These are: an arena referee and two assistants, in addition to the assisted video technology (VAR) referee, with more in the second package; The highest value is the presence of an assistant referee at the “Video Assistant Technologies” referee.
Under the mechanism used last season, the request was submitted 16 days before the date of the match, regardless of whether the confrontation was on or off team territory, with the need to attach a bank transfer or deliver a certified check 16 days before the match. .
At the same time, the arbitration committee indicated that the submission of two applications from two clubs for the same match and the transfer of a special amount means the acceptance of the first application, which completed the transfer of the first, and the fees are returned to the other club.
Notably, the Referee Committee is hosting a training camp for Saudi referees involved in the management of professional league matches in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, with 66 referees; Of these, 30 arena referees, including 9 youth referees, with the participation of 36 assistant referees; Including 8 young judges.
And 28 Saudi referees have been involved in managing 14 friendly matches in Serbia during the preparatory camp, which is being held as part of the preparation of the chief referee committee for the new season of the Saudi Pro League.
