Galan: I did not accept Saudi Arabia’s offer, Iran is my second country

According to Fars News Agency and quoting the official website of the Football Federation, Pedro Galan, Head of the Futsal Referees Department of the World Football Federation and lecturer of the pre-season seminar for referee observers and futsal referees, said: “I thank the Football Federation for inviting me to this.” Previously, I was supposed to go to Saudi Arabia for the Arab Cup, as you know, Arab countries pay a lot of money, but when he invited me to Saudi Arabia, I announced that I was in Iran at the moment, and I did not accept this invitation. In fact, Iran is my second country, I have not only a colleague but also good friends from Iran.

He added: “The first World Cup was in 1989 and last year it was held in Lithuania and there are two countries in the world that have referees in all rounds of the World Cup so far. These two countries are Spain and Iran, and I congratulate you on this issue. I thank the referee committee for paying attention to the futsal referees and supervisors. As you know, the best thing for judges is training. Do not doubt that without training we will not get better and progress will not be achieved.

“I emphasize that I know myself from you,” Galan said. Accordingly, I will strive to improve your knowledge. As I said before, last year, when FIFA celebrated the World Cup, only five countries had two representatives in the refereeing section, one of which was Iran. Also, for the first time in the history of the world, a woman was in charge of judging the final and she was also from Iran. What does this presence mean? Is it a coincidence? I believe that because you work in a precise and correct way, this happened and the representative of the Iranian women’s referee will judge in the biggest event and in the final stage. Of course, I expected a referee from Europe or Spain to judge the final.

In the end, he said: “I thank the Football Federation and the refereeing committee for all the things I said, and this is a thank you to all of you, who hope you know your importance and role in the futsal family.” Iran’s national futsal team has a high level in the world and Asia, and the referees must be at this level. You are on the right track and you need to increase your knowledge in the next two days to be in the best condition.

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