Recently, in a Japanese sports program, Atsuto Uchida, the special director of the J-League, said that the number of foreign referees in the J-League needs to be increased. And this group of referees must communicate in English, not Japanese. For a long time, Japanese players have been criticized for not being able to speak English well and not being able to complain in all competitions. Atsuto Uchida played for Schalke 04 and was team-mate with former national football captain Hao Junmin.
Atsuto Uchida said: "It's a good idea to invite referees from overseas. We can use them as a standard. This will improve the level of referees. However, they must speak English, which will help the Japanese international players as well as the Japanese players who are going to stay abroad. And football itself is played all over the world, and players who can communicate in English have an advantage.
Atsuto Uchida is a former Japan international who played for Schalke 04 and Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, team-mates with Hao Junmin and competed for playing time. Currently, Atsuto Uchida is the Special Director of the J-League in Japan. As a player, he made 74 appearances for Japan. Atsuto Uchida said that his most memorable incident was when former international player Yasuyuki Konno complained to the referee in Japanese, but the referee said that he could not understand anything.
In the last two years, Japanese sports have grown by leaps and bounds. Baseball, football, and volleyball have produced a large number of world-class players. The fans' dissatisfaction with them gradually changed from not going to overseas leagues to not being able to speak English. Despite the existence of English subjects, Japan does not attach much importance to them, resulting in a large number of Japanese students who do not even know simple spoken English after graduating from university. After the Japanese women's basketball team lost to the Chinese women's basketball team, the head coach only giggled and became the focus of criticism from Japanese fans for a time, because he could not speak English.
If the J-League introduces foreign referees on a large scale, Fu Ming and Ma Ning will definitely have a chance. As the first person to explain the penalty to the outside world, Ma Ning's English must be up to standard. And Fu Ming has participated in AFC meetings all year round and has been able to enforce the AFC Champions League many times, which also shows his ability. Within Asia, Japan's friend in West Asia is only Iraq. The referees in South Korea and Australia have average law enforcement capabilities. Maimaitijiang may not have a good chance, and it is rumored that he has not passed the English test.
The Chinese Super League was the first to introduce VAR, which also led to Super League referees being very familiar with and adapting to the post-pandemic trend. In addition, the referees of the Chinese Super League are relatively younger. In the past, the Japanese media increased their attention to studying abroad, and the strength of the Japanese team has increased rapidly in recent years, and there is a momentum to get rid of South Korea and Australia. And this time the focus on referees and English may be a new trend in the general direction of football.
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