Jonathan Lardot, the Technical Director of Belgian refereeing, outlined his expectations and upcoming changes for the Jupiler Pro League season at the Belgian Football Union headquarters in Tubize.
The focus will be on improving communication and video refereeing (VAR) usage, as Lardot noted, “We need better quality today, but must also plan for the future.”
Lardot expressed a desire to minimise grey areas, which were too prevalent last season, saying, “Clear guidelines are crucial, especially with VAR, since referees were not always aligned last season.”
The 41-year-old former referee announced a series of short- and medium-term measures to enhance refereeing. He cited the success of last season’s playoffs, where fixed teams of four to five referees collaborated on the field and in video reviews, achieving a 97% accuracy rate with VAR interventions, compared to 95% during the regular season.
Referees will no longer officiate both on the field and in VAR on the same match day. “On-field and video refereeing are distinct tasks. Switching between them is challenging, leading to some mistakes,” Lardot explained.
To achieve these goals, Lardot unveiled a new structure for the Professional Referee Department (PRD), integrating French-speaking and Dutch-speaking referees from the Challenger Pro League, Division 1, and Division 2 Amateurs into a single group for joint training and technical sessions.
