30 Jun 2022
Thursday, June 30, 2022
Doha, Qatar:
Paolo Rongoni, Head of Fitness Coach at FIFA Referees Committee, was in all praise of the state-of-the art facilities at Aspire Academy which recently hosted a conditioning camp of the referees and assistant referees in its top-class football performance center.
11 referees and 22 assistant referees from Africa (CAF), Asia (AFC) and Oceania (OFC) took part in the program as FIFA decided to fine-tune the referees and assistant referees ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar at the iconic academy.
“Doha is the ideal place to be in. The referees underwent conditioning and training programs. We wanted to have the programs here in the FIFA World Cup host country,” said Rongoni, who had earlier stints at French Ligue 1 clubs Marseille and Olympique Lyonnais.
“We follow a strategy in FIFA to assess referees from different federations. We had a session with CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL referees two weeks ago.”
With less than six months to go before the mega football event, which will be the Arab region’s maiden World Cup, Qatar has slowly geared up to welcome the 31 teams.
Aspire Academy has made a huge contribution to the success of Qatar national team, the core of which were groomed at the academy.
As hosts, this will be Qatar’s maiden World Cup appearance.
Rongoni thanked Aspire Academy and its staff for the unstinted support in delivering this fitness program for the World Cup-bound referees.
“We did five specific tests with the help of Aspire Academy staff. It was very quick and easy. I don't need to explain much thanks to the modern technology available here,” the Italian said.
“This centre is the key of assessment. For the first time, I’ve more time to assess the referees and do a check and prepare the program for the next five months. The technology is readily available, and we could use the know-how of Aspire Academy staff for the assessment.”
Rongoni valued his experience at the Aspire Academy, which has some of the best sports science equipment in the world.
“It’s a wonderful experience to have his program here. We are in the house of sports science. This has helped me a lot while doing an assessment on the FIFA match officials and prepare the program for the World Cup. Therefore, I decided to come at the Aspire Academy,” said the 50-year-old fitness trainer.