Concacaf Statement – Position on VAR and disciplinary matters in the LAFC vs Club America 2020 SCCL Semifinal
Monday, December 21, 2020
Concacaf position on VAR
Concacaf made a decision in 2019 to roll out VAR into its competitions from 2021 onwards. Since 2019 the Confederation has been training and developing referees in the region to deliver on this commitment.
Several tournaments scheduled for this year, including age group Concacaf national team competitions, were due to be crucial opportunities to trial VAR and provide more experience for our referees. The cancellation of these competitions due to the pandemic has made our work in this area more difficult.
However, despite these challenges, Concacaf will introduce VAR into the 2021 edition of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (SCCL) and the 2021 Concacaf Gold Cup.
As it relates to the 2020 SCCL, it had already commenced with more than half of the competition being played earlier this year without VAR and we could not introduce it for these final centralized matches.
Disciplinary matters in the LAFC v Club America match
The SCCL semifinal between LAFC and Club America included some great football from both teams and was a compelling match. However, some incidents were unacceptable and have been considered by the Concacaf Disciplinary Committee.
The Committee has sanctioned former Club America Head Coach Miguel Herrera and LAFC Assistant Coach Ante Razov each with four-match suspensions for unsporting conduct. Additionally, Miguel Herrera has been sanctioned with a further one-match suspension for continuing to communicate with the team after being ejected from the game.
These sanctions are applicable in all Concacaf club competitions with immediate effect.
Appealing referee decisions in the SCCL
The regulations of the SCCL clearly state that referee decisions on the field are final. This is in line with FIFA regulations for their competitions and has been in place throughout the tournament.
From an integrity perspective, the Confederation cannot change the rules at this late stage of the competition. For this reason, it is not possible to overturn red cards awarded in the 2020 SCCL.
