Bascuñán celebrates his appointment to the World Cup: “It’s a pride and a pretty big commitment”

Julio Bascuñán, remembered referee of Peru-Brazil for Qualifiers, was confirmed this Thursday as the only Chilean referee who will be present at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, where he will be in charge of the VAR. The responsibility fills him with pride, declared the judge in dialogue with the National Professional Football Association of Chile, completely overcoming his dismissal and express restitution a month ago.

“I am very happy about the nomination. Happy, because it is quite a long process. For me it is a great pride and commitment to represent refereeing and Chilean soccer in this world event, in which we are going to meet”, he pointed out in his recent interview.

“It has been a lot of work, four years of a long process and today it bears fruit in being able to say present in Qatar 2022. I hope we can do it in the best way and represent our Chilean football”, added Bascuñán, who only a few weeks ago was disqualified from whistling by decision of Javier Castrilli, former president of the ANFP Referees Commission, something that was without effect in a matter of days.

The French Stephanie Frappart, the Rwandan Salima Mukasanga and the Japanese Yoshimi Yamashita, together with the Brazilian assistants Neuza Back, the Mexican Karen Díaz Medina and the American Kathryn Nesbitt, will make history in Qatar 2022, as it will be the first time that there are female referees in a Men’s World Cup, according to the list of referees announced by FIFA.

In total, 36 referees, 69 assistants and 24 members of the video refereeing team, including Bascuñan, have been appointed by the FIFA Referees Committee.

According to FIFA, the ‘Heading to Qatar 2022’ project began in 2019. They analyzed more than fifty arbitration trios as possible candidates, who underwent intense preparation.

The selected referees will participate in various seminars in June and July (Asunción, Madrid and Doha), in which videos of real match situations will be reviewed and analyzed, and they will participate in practical training sessions with footballers, which will be recorded so that the participants Receive immediate feedback from instructors.