The Football Association announced that there were 3 errors and omissions in 8 cases, and Zhiyun's goal was valid

On the evening of May 14, the evaluation team of the referee committee of the Chinese Football Association conducted the eighth (20240514) referee review of this season, and announced the specific results through official channels on the evening of the 15th. According to the club's grievances, a total of 8 precedents were reviewed in this issue, respectively from the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First League, the Chinese Second League and the Women's Super League. The review panel found that three of the referees were erroneous and omitted. It is worth noting that in the three cases involving the 11th round of the Chinese Super League Qingdao Manatee VS Nantong Zhiyun match, except for the first assistant referee who made a mistake in the relevant judgment, the rest of the judgments, including the referee's decision to change the judgment that the Nantong Zhiyun team scored in the 90th minute and were valid, were all correct judgments.

The conclusions of this review are as follows:

Case 1: In the 11th round of the Chinese Super League, Chengdu Rongcheng VS Henan Club, in the 67th minute of the game, when the No. 8 player of Chengdu Rongcheng blocked the opponent's shot in the penalty area, the ball made contact with his arm. The referee did not award a handball foul and VAR did not intervene.

Regarding this precedent, the review group unanimously held that: judging from the existing video, Chengdu Rongcheng No. 8's arm was in contact with the ball, but the position of his arm did not make his body unnaturally larger, so it should not be regarded as a handball foul, and the referee's decision on the spot was not a handball foul was correct.

Case 2: In the 11th round of the Chinese Super League, Chengdu Rongcheng VS Henan Club, in the 71st minute of the game, when the No. 23 player of Chengdu Rongcheng received the ball in the penalty area, the ball made contact with his arm. The referee did not award a handball foul and VAR did not intervene.

Regarding this precedent, the review group unanimously held that Chengdu Rongcheng No. 23 touched the ball with his arm after stopping the ball on his chest, and his arm did not deliberately move to the ball, and the position of the arm should be regarded as a reasonable and natural position in this case, not a handball foul, and the referee's decision not to be a handball foul on the spot was correct.

Case 3: In the 11th round of the Chinese Super League, Qingdao Manatee VS Nantong Zhiyun, in the 16th minute of the game, Qingdao Manatee No. 10 player took the ball into the opponent's penalty area, Nantong Zhiyun No. 5 player made contact with him when defending, and Qingdao Manatee No. 10 player then fell to the ground. The referee did not award a foul and VAR did not intervene.

For this precedent, the review team unanimously held that the defensive action of Nantong Zhiyun No. 5 was to block the opponent's shot, touch the ball and not infringe on the opposing team, and the subsequent physical contact between the two parties was an inevitable contact caused by inertia and should not be regarded as a foul. The referee made the correct decision not to foul.

Case 4: In the 11th round of the Chinese Super League, Qingdao Manatee VS Nantong Zhiyun, in the 83rd minute of the game, the No. 10 player of Nantong Zhiyun took the ball, and the No. 16 player of Qingdao Manatee intercepted from behind his side, and the No. 10 player of Nantong Zhiyun fell to the ground. The referee awarded a foul to Qingdao Manatee No. 16 player on the spot and showed him a yellow card (the second yellow card of the player), because the foul was outside the penalty area, a direct free kick was awarded, and VAR did not intervene.

Regarding this precedent, the review team unanimously held that the video showed that Qingdao Manatee No. 16 touched the left calf of Nantong Zhiyun No. 10 during the tackle, and the contact place was outside the penalty area, and Qingdao Manatee No. 16 should be punished for a foul and awarded a direct free kick. At the same time, the foul is in line with the decision to prevent the opponent's promising attack, and the foul player should be shown a yellow card. The referee's decision to award a direct free kick and show a yellow card to Qingdao Manatee 16 was correct.

Case 5: In the 11th round of the Chinese Super League, Qingdao Manatee VS Nantong Zhiyun, in the 90th minute of the game, the Nantong Zhiyun team attacked and crossed into the opponent's penalty area, the first assistant referee raised the flag to indicate that the ball had crossed the goal line in the air, the referee delayed the whistle, and then the Nantong Zhiyun player completed the header shot, and the ball was kicked out by the Qingdao Manatee team near the goal line, and the referee whistled to stop the game and awarded the Qingdao Manatee team to kick the goal kick. After VAR intervened and the video assistant referee reviewed and analyzed, the referee changed the judgment that Nantong Zhiyun scored and the goal was valid.

For this precedent, the review group unanimously agreed: the video of the goal line position clearly shows that when the Nantong Zhiyun team crossed, the ball did not cross the goal line during the operation, and the first assistant referee made a mistake in judgment, but the referee used the way of delaying the whistle to continue the game, and then the Nantong Zhiyun team headed the goal, and the ball had crossed the goal line and entered the goal as a whole before being cleared by the Qingdao Manatee team, and the referee team used the VAR operation correctly, the VAR intervention was correct, and the referee changed the judgment that the goal was valid and correct. However, the first assistant referee's decision was wrong.

Case 6: In the 10th round of the Chinese League, Nanjing City VS Chongqing Tonglianglong, in the 85th minute of the game, Chongqing Tonglianglong No. 10 player stepped forward into the opponent's penalty area to receive the ball, Nanjing City No. 1 goalkeeper attacked and defended, Chongqing Tonglianglong No. 10 player fell, and the referee sentenced Nanjing City No. 1 goalkeeper to foul and awarded a penalty kick.

For this precedent, the review group unanimously held that the existing video could not clearly show whether the players of the two sides had physical contact, but Chongqing Tonglianglong No. 10 had already made a move to take the initiative to fall to the ground before the possible physical contact between the two sides, and the goalkeeper of Nanjing City No. 1 did not foul the attack, and even if the two sides had contact, it was initiated by the attacking players. If the attacking player has the intention of feigning to be fouled and obtaining a penalty kick, the attacking team Chongqing Tonglianglong No. 10 shall be sentenced to a violation (feigned), and a yellow card shall be shown to him, and the Nanjing City team will kick an indirect free kick to resume the game. The referee made a foul on the No. 1 goalkeeper of Nanjing City and made an error in the decision to take the penalty.

Case 7: In the 8th round of the China B League, Beijing Institute of Technology VS Hubei Youth Star, in the 98th minute of the game, Beijing Institute of Technology No. 5 was fouled by the No. 60 goalkeeper of Hubei Youth Star in the attack, the referee first awarded the foul outside the penalty area, and awarded a direct free kick, after communicating with the assistant referee, before the game resumed, the award was changed to a penalty kick, and the yellow card was shown to the No. 60 goalkeeper of Hubei Youth Star.

Regarding this precedent, the review group unanimously agreed that the foul of the No. 60 goalkeeper of Hubei Youth Star was in line with the determination of destroying the opponent's obvious goal scoring opportunity, and should be shown a red card to play. Regarding the determination of the location of the foul, most members believe that the goalkeeper of Hubei Youth Star No. 60 fouled Beijing Institute of Technology No. 5 outside the penalty area when he attacked, and should be awarded a direct free kick. The referee's decision to award a penalty on the spot was wrong, and the decision to show a yellow card was wrong. This precedent has also consulted the opinions of leading experts in the international refereeing community, who also believe that foul actions outside the penalty area should be awarded and red cards should be shown.

Case 8: In the 7th round of the Women's Super League, Hainan Qiongzhong Women's Football Team VS Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Women's Football Team, in the 52nd minute of the game, the No. 39 player of the Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Women's Football Team advanced to the opponent's penalty area with the ball, and the No. 23 player of Hainan Qiongzhong Women's Football Team committed a defensive foul. The referee first awarded the foul outside the penalty area, so the direct free kick was awarded, and after the assistant referee prompted and communicated with the assistant referee, the referee changed the award to a penalty kick, and did not show the red and yellow cards.

Regarding this precedent, the majority of the members of the review group believed that the foul committed by Hainan Qiongzhong Women's Football Team No. 23 against Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank Women's Football Team No. 39 outside the penalty area was the main reason for the latter to fall to the ground, and a direct free kick should be awarded for this foul. In addition, the foul is in line with the determination of destroying the opponent's obvious goal scoring chance, and the fouling player should be shown a red card to play. The referee made a mistake in awarding a penalty and missed a red card. The Chinese Football Association will continue to uphold the principles of fairness, impartiality and openness, actively accept feedback and appeals from clubs, and conduct comments on key precedents and typical precedents with high social concern and conducive to unifying the penalty scale, and announce the results of the review to the public, and impose internal penalties on referees who have made relevant mistakes and omissions.

Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun