The new Technical Manager of Argentine referees, Fernando Rapallini, spoke about its new function, its role, the objectives and the challenges ahead in 2025.
AFA: How do you face this new challenge?
Fernando Rapallini: I face it with a lot of joy and a lot of responsibility. It's a very nice charge and the idea is to give back to refereeing what refereeing gave me. We will try to live up to it and to be able to give referees the experience gained over all these years at both the national and international levels. I am very happy and grateful to the authorities for trusting me.
- What will be your role within the referee structure?
- I am going to be the Technical Manager of Refereeing. I will be in charge of the entire training, development and instruction for all referees, from the youngest to the greatest. For all categories. Of course, with the support of all instructors in each area. The main idea is to set up a clear and uniform line for all the referees of Argentine football.
- You had a lot of international participation in recent years, how much did that experience serve you?
- The truth is that having had the possibility to referee on all continents, except Oceania, was very important to me. I was lucky enough to referee matches at the U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Cup, Club World Cup, and being the first non-European referee at Euro, in addition to Copa America. After that, I was also hired by leagues from different parts of the world to referee matches. I was also an instructor in the United Arab Emirates League. All that development allowed me to have different views on football and refereeing. There are different cultures and different idiosyncrasies, and I have learned from all of them. Not everywhere matches are refereed in the same way and with the same methods in competitions, both at the national and international levels. That allowed me to be more versatile and flexible and work under great pressure. I hope to use all that experience so that our referees can quickly acquire knowledge and have more tools to solve the problems that may arise. The important thing is that they can be better. With better referees, we will have better football and that's what we aspire to.
- How important is this new stage in your life for your professional career?
- It is very important. I graduated from the referee school in 2000 and joined AFA in 2001. From that moment until now my entire journey was inside football. Now, being able to hold a position of such importance and so much responsibility and to remain linked to refereeing is a very important objective and challenge for me. It is a dream to be where I am and work with who I am working with, honestly.
- What targets do you have for 2025?
- The ability to continue to learn, to continue to develop, to grow refereeing, to find new talents, to form new referees, to try to improve what is being done well and try to correct what was done wrong. Implement new technologies with neurocognitive platforms to train, there is a very large field to develop, and I think refereeing needs that. Not for lack of work, but quite the contrary, because the world evolves and refereeing must go hand in hand with that evolution.
- What are you looking to improve or enhance in your new position?
- One of the clear objectives and most important goals is to be able to unify procedures. Not the criteria because that's everyone's. But the procedures through considerations to make sanctions or decision-making on the field as uniform as possible in similar situations. Try to develop new things like a project regarding the entire structure of refereeing, new technologies and be able to lower the age at which referees reach the first division. Today the age range is a little higher than the rest of South America. While the Argentine refereeing is one of the best in the world and, therefore, also on our continent, it has a somewhat higher age range than the average and it would be good to lower it a little. It's a long project and a job that will take time but we are looking forward to that challenge.
Source: AFA
