JFA Referees Committee Releases First-Half Season Officiating Statistics: Decrease in Incorrect Calls, Improved Accuracy of VAR Interventions

The Japan Football Association (JFA) Referees Committee recently held a briefing on refereeing decisions for the first half of the J.League season. At the meeting, JFA Referees Committee Chairman Takaharu Sato noted an improvement in the accuracy of officiating compared to the previous season.

The JFA Referees Committee defines “key incidents” as goals, penalty kicks, direct red cards, and fouls leading to two yellow card cautions. Using officiating decisions as an example, the percentage of incorrect calls, including those corrected through Video Assistant Referee (VAR) intervention, increased from one every 4.31 matches last season to one every 5.28 matches this season.

Furthermore, the committee categorizes officiating into three types: “expected decisions,” “difficult decisions,” and “extremely difficult decisions.” Situations where there is room for improvement in the positioning or coordination of referees, as well as cases where appropriate decisions need to be made when similar events occur, are classified as “expected decisions.” Conversely, situations that are virtually impossible to make proper decisions about on the field are categorized as “extremely difficult decisions.”

The breakdown is as follows:

Expected Decisions: 8

Difficult Decisions: 25

Extremely Difficult Decisions: 3

Based on these statistics, Takaharu Sato expressed a desire to further improve the accuracy of judgments, stating, “I want to reduce expected judgments to zero, but not only that, I also want to work to minimize the number ‘25’ as much as possible, even in difficult judgments.”

In addition, the VAR data is as follows:

Matches: 190

Interventions: 66 (23 VAR-only interventions, 43 on-field referee interventions)

Intervention Frequency: 1/2.9

Handball Penalties: 17

Other Penalties: 8

Foul Play: 7

Denying an Obvious Goalscoring Opportunity (DOGSO): 2

Severe Fouls: 4

Brutal Behavior: 1

Offside-Related Incidents: 4