Esther Staubli is one of the best female referees at the moment. I got the chance to ask her a few questions for my blog. She shares here experiences about refereeing at big tournaments, like World Cups, European finals and international games. In 2019 she will be refereing at the Women’s World Cup. Her first game was Australia vs Brazil. A great insight into professional refereeing. Interesting to see how much dedication and effort she puts into it. The year 2017 First we go back to 2017, a big year for Esther Staubli. How was 2017 for you as a referee? Esther Staubli: It was an amazing year that I…

Vitor Manuel Reis, a former professional referee in Portugal, has written two new books about referees. In this article he talks about his book, plus has some great tips for you as referee. Vitor Manuel Reis is 59 years old and he was a football referee from 1982 to 1997. At his retirement, at the age of 37, he was in the first national category for 6 seasons. “After that, I was the President of the Portuguese Association Football Referees during some years. And between 2011 and 2016 I was a delegate of the Portuguese Football Federation (General Assembly), representing the referees of the professional football.” 12 books about the…

Jens Maae thinks 2017 is the best year in his refereeing career. He officiates the Euro u17 final and the Danish cup final. But that doesn’t mean he will stop working hard in 2018. There are new goals. “The most imortant thing is to enjoy myself and second is getting to category 2 in UEFA”, he says in an interview with Dutch Referee Blog. Jens G. Maae is 35 years old and a referee since 1998. He is a semi-professional referee that works part-time as a physiotherapist. Check out the interview about his wonderful last year plus his future career.  The u17 Euro final You officiated the u17 Euro final this year.…

A physical training programme is launched by the Referee Committee of the Madrid Football Association. They want to improve their local referees and prepare them for the increasing standards of refereeing. One of the goals is to “position Madrid’s men and women referees at the forefront of Spanish refereeing.” I talk on my blog with José María García-Aranda Encinar. He is adviser to the President of the Referees’ Committee and to the President of the Football Federation. Plan for specific demands of referees Can tell me a bit more. What are the plans? “The target is to extend the physical training programmes to all the referees’ categories, increasing the number of professionals in charge and…

The Centre of Refereeing Excellence is a great experience for John Andrew Jones, because it helps him a lot as referee. The Welsh (assistant) referee got his CORE diploma and gives you insights from his visit to the Uefa Headquarters. Congratulations with getting your CORE 36 diploma. How important is that for you? Thank you, Jan. It was an honour to represent Wales with Referee Rob Jenkins and Assistant Referee Aaron Wyn Jones as part of the CORE 36 team. I enjoyed my experience. And I would suggest that any referee who is lucky to be selected should take part if they wish to improve themselves for the better. After all…

Pieter Vink’s alarm goes every morning at 5.30. Waking up, making sandwiches for lunch and off to work. The former top referee unfortunately had to quit his “wonderful career as pro referee”. During the first years of his refereein career he still worked as police officer, but the last ten years refereeing was is fulltime job. “If it rained in the morning, I could stay in bed a little longer and train later during the day”, he says during a meeting at the referee association COVS Leiden. “I can’t do that anymore. Nowadays, I’m a civil servant now, working in the municipal enforcement and supervision department as a coordinator.” He…

Mika Lamppu from Finland gets appointed for the u17 European Championship in 2017, but has never worked with the center referee before. He shares his experiences of the tournament and how important it is to build a relation with referees outside the games while abroad for a tournament. “Without chemistry the team can’t work to it’s full potential.” Mika, congratulations with your appointment for the u17 European Championship earlier this year. How did you experience the tournament? Mika Lamppu: “The tournament was a great experience. It seems to be true that final tournaments have their own atmosphere. It’s a big stage for the players and the teams are playing for the…