A decision that went down in history. This Thursday, in the final moments of regulation time for the opening match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup between New Zealand and Norway, Yoshimi Yamashita stopped play to watch the video due to a potential hand from a Norwegian player in his own penalty area. After reviewing the footage, the Japanese referee explained her decision to the spectators – who fell silent for the occasion – and to the viewers using a microphone: “After reviewing the action, the decision is: penalty”, she said firmly, in English.
This is the first time that an arbitration choice has been commented on live in a major football competition. For the record, the Football Ferns missed this penalty kick but that did not affect the result of the meeting since they still won by the smallest of marks (1-0).
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This new system aims to respond to the desire – and the need – of the public, whether present at the stadium or in front of their television, to (better) understand the decisions taken by the refereeing corps. “We want to give more transparency and a better understanding of refereeing decisions,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of FIFA’s referees commission. To ensure that this new process is fully operational for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, tests were carried out during the Club World Cup in Morocco and the U20 World Cup recently held in Argentina.
In addition, “the referees present in Sydney have already tried the sound system on the training grounds and everything is going well,” explained the ex-official. Before adding: “We are convinced that this new tool will be very positive.” To be sure, we will have to wait for it to be used more.