ROBERTO ROSETTI, UEFA CHIEF REFEREEING OFFICER AND CHAIRMAN OF THE UEFA REFEREES' COMMITTEE GUEST OF FSS AND SPORTS CENTER | "I AM IMPRESSED, YOU HAVE A FANTASTIC SPORTS CENTER" (VIDEO)

Formerly one of the world’s best referees, today in the role of Chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee, Roberto Rosetti, visited the FSS Sports Center in Stara Pazova today. The distinguished guest was accompanied by Zoran Laković, UEFA National Associations’ Director. His hosts before the FSS were the leaders of the Association, deputy president Nenad Bjeković, general secretary Jovan Šurbatović, director of the A national team Stevan Stojanović, as well as Dejan Filipović, president of the Refereeing Committee, responsible for refereeing in the Super and First League of Serbia. The distinguished guest gave a lecture for the referees of the Mozart Bet Super League of Serbia, and before that he visited the Sports Center and did not hide his enthusiasm for what he saw. Namely, it is no secret that there is a mutual desire for the Serbian Football Federation and the Sports Center to host one of the seminars for the best European referees.

“It is really a great pleasure to be here, and I must admit that I am impressed by what I saw in Stara Pazova. The Football Association of Serbia can be proud of its house of football, which represents a truly avant-garde project. Absolutely everything was done at the highest level, the grounds, hotel facilities, infrastructure and of course what I am most interested in, the VAR rooms. Congratulations to the leaders of FSS, they did a phenomenal job. This is a center where everything works flawlessly.”

Passion and determination. Two words that Roberto Rosetti often uses when talking about football and his success and professional life.

“I’m glad to see passion and determination here as well, but I would like to add something else, I also see love for football.” I see the dedication of all the people involved in any way in your Association’s system. That makes me happy. Football, like any other job, requires work, sacrifice and commitment to daily duties. FS of Serbia fulfills all these prerequisites and that is why it achieved the desired results,” said Roberto Rosetti.

The president of the Refereeing Committee, Dejan Filipović, said that this is the first time that the president of the UEFA Refereeing Committee has visited the FSS and Serbian referees.

“Mr. Rosetti honored the Football Association of Serbia. If I remember well, this is the first time that the president of the UEFA Referee Committee has visited Serbian referees. Not only that, but he also gave a lecture that lasted half an hour longer than planned. Roberto is not only a great manager at UEFA, but also a great lecturer, a man who knows a lot and knows how to pass that knowledge on to younger colleagues. The referees enjoyed themselves, but so did we from the Committee, who after today’s meeting, benefited from new experiences and knowledge. We are very honored, I am sure that his visit will contribute to the further improvement of the quality of Serbian refereeing” – said Filipović and revealed another interesting detail: “We are not giving up on the idea of organizing a seminar of elite UEFA referees in the future, and now Mr. Rosetti is also assured that we have all the necessary conditions for such an event. He was delighted with the complete Sports Center, the VAR rooms, some details he noticed – for example that each VAR room has different dimensions. The center in Stara Pazova offers everything you need, but it is even more important that everything works in a fairly simple way. Everything is in one place, referees can practically go to the athletic track, to the fields with artificial or natural turf directly from the hotel… Absolutely everything meets the high standards of UEFA and I hope that soon we will have the honor of hosting elite UEFA referees in our house of football. I am especially glad that Mr. Rosetti said that he has been following the development of VAR in Serbia for the past year, that he is very satisfied and that this visit of his is a form of support for everything we have done in terms of the implementation and application of video technology on our turf” said Dejan Filipović.