Referees Association Backs VAR Decision for Tiberias Penalty

The Israeli Referees Association has fully backed VAR official Shlomi Ben-Avraham's decision to award a penalty to Hapoel Tiberias during a recent match, following criticism from Maccabi Haifa.

The association stated that the handball by Maccabi Haifa's Nigel Lonwijk, which led to the penalty, was correctly identified as a handball by VAR. They explained that the defender's arm was in an unnatural position, increasing his body's volume, and that the intervention was justified.

This endorsement comes after Maccabi Haifa's leadership publicly questioned Ben-Avraham's judgment. An unnamed source within the Referees Association criticized this trend, stating, "It has become a wrong trend for teams to request referees be disqualified. They should focus on football and not on criticism that has no connection to reality. Teams will not decide who referees and who sits as a VAR official."

This message was also conveyed in recent meetings by the Association's chairman, Giora Inbar. Separately, Orel Grinfeld will lead an Israeli officiating team for a UEFA Nations League match between Georgia and Northern Ireland, with Roey Hassan and Idan Yarkoni as assistant referees, Snir Levy as the fourth official, and Eli Hachmon and Gal Leibovitz overseeing VAR.