In an interview with radio show Radio Anch’io lo Sport, Marcello Nicchi, the president of the Italian refereeing association has shared his delight at how his referees have performed this season.

“The referees are working well in applying regulations that do not excite us either. The problem is that there are few people who know the new rules: sometimes I don’t understand certain out-of-place protests, because we think that there is a confusion for example on the hand ball, but this is not the case.”

He also shared his thoughts on the idea of a VAR-style system being introduced to try and combat racism.

“I must congratulate Gabriele Gravina for this suggestion. We do many things in harmony and we want to chase these scoundrels away, we are on the front line with the players. We are willing to do anything, let’s agree on what we want to do together.”

He then spoke on the possibility of a centralised location for VAR, similarly to what happens with VAR elsewhere in world football and video review systems in other sports.

“It will be the turning point for VAR. We are working on the structure, in Italy the bureaucracy suffocates us and we must follow the rules. We are working with Gravina, we want to have it as soon as possible because it will be easier to explain the various situations.”