(Reuters) – CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, has implemented a “detailed” review of its refereeing department after several controversial decisions were made during the recent Gold Cup.
The review, which is already underway, will be personally overseen by CONCACAF’s acting president Alfredo Hawit, who has 24 years of experience in referee administration, the organisation said yesterday.
“The foundation of our game is fair play, and we must take the required steps to reinforce the importance of this principle,” Hawit said in a statement.
“This review will allow the Confederation to take the next step towards improving refereeing across the region.”
According to CONCACAF, the review will include “an assessment of processes for determining referee assignments for each match” and a detailed evaluation of refereeing standards throughout the region.
Last week, the governing body said that “human errors” were “part of the game” after an officiating review of Panama’s controversial Gold Cup semi-final loss to Mexico.
The Panama players were incensed by a last-minute penalty awarded to Mexico, which led to a late equaliser, before Mexico won 2-1 in extra time in Atlanta thanks to another penalty.
