A Search For Change: Foreıgn Vıdeo Assıstant Referee Applıcatıon In The Turkısh Super League

Abstract

Recently, football in Turkey is talked about on and off the field events and referee decisions rather than sporting achievements and viewing pleasure. The video assistant referee application, which has a wide coverage in football in particular, has brought about discussions about its reliability in the public. The purpose of this research is a search for change: to examine the application of foreign video assistant referees in the Turkish Super League.

Document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was preferred in the research. In this research, we focused on the foreign video assistant referees who took part in the matches from the 32nd week to the 38th week of our football league, in which the Turkish Football Federation's decision to implement foreign video assistant referees was taken in the 2023-2024 season. During the research process, academic publications, newspapers and internet news about VAR application. and the official statements of the Turkish Football Federation have been carefully read and interpreted. Some of the former referees whose opinions were included in our research argue that foreign referees will reduce the pressure on Turkish referees and contribute to more fair management of matches.  However, there are also those who think that foreign referees will have a negative impact on the development of Turkish refereeing. While football club coaches think that foreign video assistant referees can contribute to Turkish football, there are also those who argue that this practice will not solve existing problems and may create new problems. In addition, it has been determined that the economic cost of foreign video assistant referee practice may be high, it may reduce the motivation of Turkish referees, and that it is a problem if it is implemented especially in the last part of the season and applied only in certain matches.

In conclusion; There are different opinions about the effects of the foreign video assistant referee practice on Turkish referees in the Turkish Super League. A common point is that there is a consensus on the need for improvements in the video assistant referee application in Turkish football.