New things at the 2023 Women's World Cup for Vietnam

The 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will be innovative in many ways.

When VAR intervenes in a match, notifying the referee to check the screen, it also informs the audience about the reason for reviewing the situation. Photo: FIFA

To make decisions more transparent, FIFA requires referees to explain their decisions after consulting VAR to fans in the stadium as well as on television (via the electronic board). That is, when VAR intervenes in the match, notifying the main referee to check the screen, it also informs the audience about the reason for reviewing the situation. In other words, referees are responsible for explaining why the match had to be stopped. This is the first time it has been applied at the World Cup, FIFA's top tournament. Under the old procedure, after reviewing situations that required VAR on the field (red cards, penalties, goal decisions and offside), the referee would make a new decision and continue the match without having to explain the reason for the change.

This is the first time at a World Cup that referees have been asked to explain why a match has to be stopped. Photo: FIFA

FIFA wants to make the process more comprehensive and the method was trialled at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup and U20 World Cup. It will now be applied to the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

"They need to know why the referee changes his decision, this increases transparency in the game. Besides, it also makes it easier to understand the rules of football" - Chairman of FIFA's Referees Committee Pierluigi Collina

Similar to the Qatar 2022 World Cup, referees will also be supported by OCEANUZ (semi-automatic) ball technology, providing accurate real-time data to identify offside situations. The official match ball of the 2023 World Cup, Oceanuz, will also be integrated with semi-automatic offside technology. This technology was introduced at the 2022 Men's Football World Cup with 12 dedicated tracking cameras to monitor situations and sensors placed inside the ball to help referees make more accurate decisions.

Semi-automatic offside technology provides accurate real-time data to identify offside situations. Photo: FIFA

The Vietnamese women's team will be based at the Rydges Hotel in Auckland. This city is known as one of the sunniest places in New Zealand. However, the Vietnamese women's team may have to compete in winter weather at the 2023 World Cup. The reason is that it is currently winter in the Southern Hemisphere. However, contrary to predictions, the cold weather in New Zealand is not too harsh. Auckland is currently experiencing a humid climate, with temperatures ranging from 11 to 15 degrees Celsius. Rydges is a 4-4.5 star hotel located on Featherston Street in central Auckland. This location is not far from the New Zealand National Stadium, Eden Park - where coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will play their opening match against the US women's team. In the next two matches, the Vietnamese women's team will compete in the cities of Hamilton and Dunedin, respectively. In the second match against Portugal in Hamilton, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will play at 7:30 p.m. local time. The weather at this time will be a little colder than usual but not below 10 degrees. But in the final match against the Netherlands in Dunedin, this will be the coldest place. The weather can drop below 6 degrees at night while the Vietnamese women's team will play at 7:00 p.m.

According to FIFA, all matches at the 2023 Women's World Cup will apply VAR. For the Vietnamese women's team, this is a new and exciting experience. Playing under the observation of VAR requires players, especially the defense, to concentrate and avoid unnecessary fouls to avoid receiving cards and penalties.

The Vietnamese women's team has arrived in New Zealand to train and get used to the weather there. Before the 2023 Women's World Cup, coach Mai Duc Chung and his team will have two friendly matches against Spain and New Zealand.

According to the schedule, at the 2023 Women's World Cup, the Vietnamese women's team will meet the US women's team on July 22, the Portuguese women's team on July 27, and the Netherlands women's team on August 1. Notably, the women's team's opponent, the US team, successfully defended the championship for the second consecutive time after defeating the Netherlands team with a score of 2-0 in the final of the 2019 Women's World Cup.

FIFA experts disseminate rules to Vietnamese female players ahead of the 2023 Women's World Cup. Photo: VFF

This is the first time the number of participating teams has increased to 32, there are more matches and more referees will be needed. Next, for the first time in World Cup history, the tournament is taking place in 2 countries belonging to 2 different football confederations (Australia is in AFC and New Zealand is in Oceania).

According to the announcement of the FIFA Referees Committee, 33 referees, 55 assistant referees and 19 members of the VAR refereeing group from 6 continental confederations are called FIFA Team One. For the first time in history, 6 female referees will participate in the video game management (VMO). This is an upgraded version of VAR, which is said to "learn" from the system applied by the NFL (professional football) and NBA (professional basketball).

baotintuc.vn