Namibia Football Association (NFA) match officials are being taken through the ropes through the FIFA Member Association (MA) Elite Referee Online Course this week.
The course is designed to develop and train referees remotely in order to be as safe as possible. The course will involve video presentations, online polls and questions-and-answer sessions.
The four-day FIFA MA Referees online course which has thirty-five participants is being conducted by Tracy Lovell (Physical Instructor) and Ali Ahmed (Technical Instructor).
Due to the major impact of the Covid -19, FIFA has been searching for alternative ways to continue their mission of supporting and improving refereeing globally.
“FIFA understands how important it is to provide solutions that allow referees to develop and train as safely and effectively as possible. The online courses will be intensive just as the regular in-person seminars. The only thing missing will be the usual fitness tests of participants at the end of the course. However, the NFA has deployed a technique with the assistance of the GPS devices and the support of the Local Instructors to monitor the fitness levels of the participants,” said NFA Referee Coordinator, Absalom Goseb.
He also added that the major challenge the FA is currently faced with is the travelling restrictions the country is currently placed under; participants are scattered in all spheres of the country and it is a challenge to get everyone engaging in the zoom meetings on time as some participants are in remote areas with no internet access.
Goseb however remains optimistic that everyone will get on board tomorrow.
Topics that will be covered during the online course are: changes to the Laws of the Game, Video Assistant Referee (VAR), training in confinement, handballs, penalty-area incidents, tactical fouls and offsides.
Additionally, referees will cover positional subjects such as anticipation, playing the advantage, set-pieces, fast pressing and assistant referees. – nfa.org.na
