Uzbekistan's Farkhad Abdullaev instructs FIFA MA online course for Indian referees

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) organised an online two-day FIFA MA course for referees on Tuesday and Wednesday with a focus on football understandings of the referees and new amendments in the laws of the game.

"We had a good chance to discuss amendments in the laws of the game 2020-21 and clarify many important aspects like accidental handball situations followed by an immediate goal or offside offences. We had an in-depth discussion on penalty area incidents and offside decisions," Abdullaev says.

The Uzbek instructor during the course suggested the significance of 'real-match experience' for the development of a referee.

"With the support of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Football Association (FIFA), they (referees) will get the opportunities to improve themselves, but a real-match experience is of utmost importance. Local, qualified instructors should be involved closely and all the match situations from leagues should be analysed deeply," said Abdullaev, who was a technical instructor in four FIFA World Cups including Russia 2018.

"Local instructors and Assessors play a very important role in developing referees. What people do at the local level, needs to be polished at a higher level (AFC and FIFA)," he added.