Harm Osmers: advice from a Youth League final referee

Referee Harm Osmers will officiate 2022’s Youth League final and he’s VAR at the women’s Euro 2022. He loves to officiate and his passion, dedication and performances brought him these appointments, only 2 years after earning a FIFA badge. In this story you’ll get some important lessons from this referee from Germany.

Learn from every referee

Referee Harm Osmers shares his experiences in an interview with Uefa.com, where I cite from. The Germany referee says it’s important to be open for new things, because you can learn from every referee. “I’ve never had one special role model. I’ve always been eager and open to watch other referees, to see how they handle situations, how they take decisions and manage players, and I’ve continued until today to collect various things and adapt them to my refereeing.”

I am curious: do you have role model? Who did you learn from the most?

Refereeing is a learning process

“It’s clear that you don’t learn everything at once.” Harm Osmers tells that refereeing is a learning process. “You learn to take charge of matches with 50 spectators, then 100, then 1,000. Then, when you reach a higher level, you learn a new environment where there is greater public and media exposure and bigger demands.” It’s something for you to consider as well. How do you get along in this process? Be awere that it might have an impact on you as a referee, but you’ll grow into it. As Harm Osmers puts it: “It’s a step-by-step process of gaining experience along the way.”

Officiating is teamwork

 Teamwork is crucial to hava a good game. “I can’t referee a match only by myself, and I’m grateful to have a good team around me that I can trust. I must emphasise that it’s not about individuals – we will look to achieve a good performance as a team, and I see myself more as a team leader.”

Also a tip from Björn Kuipers: “Trust your team members”. Another way to work on teamwork is a physical exercise from Werner Helsen. He explains the match-decision making exercise on my blog.

Harm Osmers: “Have a positive mindset”

The German talented referee is also happy with his appointment to be VAR at the Women’s Euro. But he doesn’t want to think too much about it. First this final in Nyon between Benfica and Salzburg. And his approach his always positive. “I’ll try and savour the moments before the match, because it’s extremely important to have a positive mind-set when you go into a game.”

You can watch the game on Uefa.tv