Qatar 2022/Tunisia-France: "FIFA, we too are victims of a refereeing error" (F. Pellissier, TF1)

"TF1 will send a letter to FIFA, because we are very unhappy with the situation. It's a prejudice for the viewer, a prejudice of image for us. We too are the victims of a refereeing error," said François Pellissier, executive vice-president business and sports for the French free-TV group TF1, to the sports daily L'Équipe on 01/12/2022.

During the Tunisia - France match (1-0) broadcast on TF1 on Wednesday 30/11/2022 (kick-off at 16:00 CET), the channel went back on air at 1-1 after the end of the match had been whistled, just before New Zealand referee Matthew Conger decided to cancel the goal of French team striker Antoine Griezmann for offside, based on the VAR footage viewed at the edge of the pitch.

"We are faced with a mistake by the FIFA referee who used VAR when he had no right to do so according to the rules. It's highly penalising for us. But at that moment, it's too late, we gave the go-ahead to give the game back. The final control room took over. It's complicated to stop a commercial, you don't know if you're coming back for a second or for nothing," explained François…