TFF wird in wichtigen Spielen der Woche bis zum Ende der Liga ausländische VAR-Schiedsrichter ernennen: Warum genießt das VAR-System in der Türkei kein Vertrauen?

Burak Abatay’s message was first published on March 30 on BBC Turkish. The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced that starting from the 32nd week of the Trendyol Super League until the end of the season, foreign Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be appointed for the crucial matches of the week. According to the TFF statement, this decision resulted from discussions with UEFA and five European national associations. Consequently, the request made by the TFF to the football federations of Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Portugal for a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was accepted by the respective national associations. In games where a foreign Video Assistant Referee (VAR) is present, Turkish and English are the languages used for communication. In addition to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), AVAR, AVAR 2, and VAR Support (VAR Support) will also be working, capable of communicating in English. The matches in which foreign Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be appointed in the 32nd week of the Trendyol Super League are: Ankaragücü – Gaziantepspor, Vavacars Fatih Karagümrük – Fenerbahçe, Corendon Alanyaspor – Galatasaray. In Turkey, instead of discussing sporting achievements or the pleasure of watching, football scandals and referees on and off the field have been the subject of conversation for some time. The incident where a club leader attacked the referee during a game, another club leader withdrew his team from the field due to dissatisfaction with the referee’s decisions, and the incidents where individuals entered the field and attacked players during the Trabzonspor-Fenerbahçe game gained attention both nationally and internationally. Finally, a picture from the training session of the Central Refereeing Committee (MHK) of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) on March 1, 2024, was leaked on social media. The video included discussions about the penalty awarded with a warning from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for a double attempt in the Galatasaray-Antalyaspor game on February 26. Following these discussions, the TFF publicly shared images of the entire meeting on its official website. In these scenes, two positions regarding the Fenerbahçe-Kasımpaşa game on February 24 are discussed. Dallas asks VAR referee Erkan Engin and referee Cihan Aydın about the penalty decisions that were and were not awarded in favor of Fenerbahçe. In these conversations, Engin comments on the penalty given in favor of Fenerbahçe: „Looking at it now, it seems like there is no handball, I cannot see a clear handball, but if I have to talk about my feeling in the room, I was sure of the image behind the goal and in the Tight End.“ The lack of trust in the dialogues between referees and VAR referees has long been a controversial issue. Since mid-February, the TFF has been making audio and video recordings of all situations where referees are called to the VAR monitor available to the public. So why does the Turkish sports public not trust the VAR system? Why is it believed that VAR standards have not been met yet? According to Asım Yusuf Öz, a former Super League referee, the main reason why VAR standards cannot be met is that many referees who were considered unsuccessful and not assigned to the field are now serving as VAR referees. In an interview with BBC Turkish, Öz said: „They have left the referees who made a mistake in their interpretation on the field in the VAR.“ In fact, they do not consider these people competent enough to assign them a mission on the field. „This man is looking at the VAR and making the wrong comment again,“ he says. Öz sees it as a missed opportunity not to involve experienced referees who were relieved of their duties due to pressure from clubs in the VAR system. „They made Cüneyt Çakır quit as a referee. While we were officiating the game with Bülent Yıldırım, we hoped that the VAR referee would be Cüneyt Çakır. Why? He was very successful. It reassured us. Fırat Aydınus left the referee function, they could have evaluated him, but they didn’t. If they had included these names in the VAR team, they would have solved most of the problem.“ „In some stadiums, the offside line cannot even be drawn,“ says Öz, pointing out the lack of sufficient cameras and different angles as a deficiency. „Disclosure of VAR recordings generated mistrust“ Errors in the application of VAR, introduced to prevent mistakes in referee decisions in football, are a frequently discussed issue in the global football community. However, this mistrust is growing in Turkey with