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Scottish ex-FIFA referee Bobby Madden shares his go-to fitness exercise. He ran it every fortnight and even now he sometimes does it. “This exercise builds aerobic capacity and speed endurance, which increases your V02 Max”, says Madden. Your body will thus be better in recovering from and adapting to physical stress and exercise volume. “Fitness is more important for referees as it’s ever been”. PS: did you know Bobby Madden recently started a referee podcast? Read more about So Near and Yet So VAR. Explanation of the exercise The excercise is as follows: You run 400m, either 1 round on the track or approximately 4 pitch-lengths (check size of your pitch, mine is 105) Recover for 1 minute Repeat this 12 times in total How does it help...

The Laws of the Game Quiz season has started already. This is the 2nd quiz of 2026-2027. It has 5 clips of the World Cup, used for educational purposes. The clips will be available for 4 weeks. Good luck with the quiz. My goal is to publish a quiz every fortnight. You can participate on the embedded form below or directly on Google Forms. Laden… Do the quiz in Google Forms Do the quiz Continue reading...

So Near Yet So VAR is the new podcast by Bobby Madden. The Scottish former FIFA referee will start on Monday 3rd of August, right after the 1st competition round. “No media agendas, no referee bashing—just the actual laws of the game and my view from being in the middle”, is how he announced it on Instagram. I’ve called with Bobby Madden to hear what we can expect as listeners. He wants to give refs, coaches an informed opinion based on the laws. There’s a need for that, he says. “There was already a massive talking point in a cup game and the season hasn’t even started yet” Listen to the podcast on Spotify Bobby Madden’s experience Bobby Madden officiated 20 years at the top domestic level and more than a decade for UEFA and FIFA. He...

Mistaken identity led to some discussions during the 2026 World Cup. The new wording in the VAR Protocol caused referee Danny Makkelie to change a yellow card for USA player Ream into a caution for diving for the opponent. And João Pinheiro whistled for a foul by Argentian player Paredes, but after a VAR review the Swiss Embolo was sent off with a 2nd caution. Is this how it should have worked? No, says the law governing body IFAB in their latest circular. FIFA’s interpretation was broader than meant to be. But IFAB also admits the way it was handled was “well received”. They’ll take this new approach into account, but until a further VAR Protocol review, the mistaken identity rule should not do it like how they did it at the World Cup...

The Laws of the Game Quiz season has started already. This is the 1st quiz of 2026-2027. It has 5 clips of the World Cup, used for educational purposes. The clips will be available for 4 weeks. Good luck with the quiz. You can participate on the embedded form below or directly on Google Forms. Laden… Do the quiz in Google Forms Do the quiz Continue reading...

The World Cup 2026 match officials are listed below. I’ve put the names of the referees who have 2 assistants with them first. Below that the referees with just 1 assistant. They are presumably the support referees. Predict the refs for the finals You can also win a referee whistle with my blog’s logo on it. All you have to do is guess who the referees in the final rounds will be, plus some bonus questions about the number of cards. Love to see you participate, enjoy the World Cup! Make your referee predictions Referees for the World Cup AFC Abdulrahman Al-Jassim (AFC – Qatar) Alireza Faghani (AFC – Australia) Adham Makhadmeh (AFC – Jordan) Ilgiz Tantashev (AFC – Uzbekistan) CAF Jalal Jayed (CAF – Morocco) Amin Mohamed Omar (CAF –...

The Laws of the Game changes for 2026-2027 are announced by IFAB. Below you find the summary of the changes. What is the most interesting change for you? What will work? You can also download the full text at IFAB. Law 3 – The Players Continue reading...

Laws of the Game Quiz 2025-2026 #04. You’ll find the quiz answers right after submitting the questions via a button you’ll see there. Good luck with the quiz! You can make it below or straight in Google Forms. Clips for the quiz Below you’ll find the links to all 5 clips, which I uploaded for educational purposes on the Box Platform. They are there to learn from and I hope you like this new quiz type. Laden… Continue reading...

Sprint exercises for referees are a good way to improve your top speed or to maintain the ability to repeat your sprint during the game. The following exercise is a nice, interactive exercise to sprint. How the exercise works The exercise is something Mike, a fellow referee at The Hague’s referee assocition, tried during our latest training session. How it works: You start in couples in the middle of the goal The begin is a jog to the edge of the penalty area Then you move sideways with the back towards each other After 10m you change sides and face each other Reaching the next blue cone, the person on the left names a colour Based on what the “leader” said, you sprint towards the coloured cones that are near the halfwayline You then...

High-intensity exercise #11 is something I’ve seen in a training schedule by Uefa. You work on the speed end. After a sprint from the halfway line to the penalty area, you have a short recovery jog and then have a high intensity run to the other goal area. And you do that twice. When I gave the training session at the Referee Association in The Hage the start of our training seemed quite relaxed with a pyrimid exercises jogging to cone 1, then 2 and so on. Just jogging, but then it was time for the upcoming exercises, with some short accelerations in between to be prepared for this. Good luck! How the exercise works The exercise is something I saw a Uefa referee do. They run 4 laps of this in approximately 3 minutes. In my training...

Laws of the Game Quiz 2025-2026 #03. You’ll find the quiz answers right after submitting the questions via a button you’ll see there. Good luck with the quiz! You can make it below or straight in Google Forms. Clip for question 1 Below you’ll find the clip for question 1 of the quiz. It’s a clip on Instagram. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken Een bericht gedeeld door Bundesliga (@bundesliga) Laden… Continue reading...

Preventing the goalkeeper from releasing the ball is a tricky thing. In quiz 2 of 2025-2026 many referees wanted to see a yellow card there, but that’s most of the times not correct by law. Here’s how you should handle as a referee. Clip of an attacker getting the ball Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken Een bericht gedeeld door DAZN Belgium (@dazn_be) The laws about the restart Laws of the game are clear about the restart and the sanction. Firstly, we go to the restart of play after such an offence. “An indirect free kick is awarded if a player (…) prevents the goalkeeper from releasing the ball from the hands or...

Laws of the Game Quiz 2025-2026 #02. You’ll find the quiz answers right after submitting the questions via a button you’ll see there. During quiz 1 the majority wanted 2 quizzes per month, so I’ll do 2 shorter quizzes then and try to get 1 video in each. Good luck with the quiz! You can make it below or straight in Google Forms. Clip for question 1 Below you’ll find the clip for question 1 of the quiz. It’s a clip on Instagram. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken Een bericht gedeeld door Sai el Haddaoui (@future_football_profs) Laden… Continue reading...

Laws of the Game Quiz 2025-2026 #01. You’ll find the quiz answers right after submitting the questions via a button you’ll see there. At the end you’ll also get a poll about how often and how many questions you’d like (weekl/monthly/text/video, etc.) Good luck with the quiz! You can make it below or straight in Google Forms. Clip for question 1 Below you’ll find the clip for question 1 of the quiz. It’s a clip on Instagram. Dit bericht op Instagram bekijken Een bericht gedeeld door Sai el Haddaoui (@future_football_profs) Laden… Continue reading...

FIFA referee Ghada Mehat shares her favourite fitness exercise. “It’s 2 high intensity blocks of 10 minutes of the FIFA fitness test at 15-15”. The Algerian match official runs the 75m high-intensity run in 15 seconds, but has shorter rest than normal. 15 seconds rest instead of 18. Have you ever tried that? See below how that goes. Benefits for Ghada Mehat in her games You run the “normal” FIFA test with a high-intensity run of 75 metres. The big difference is a shorter rest period. Normally a FIFA test consists of 40 runs, Ghada Mehat runs the test in two blocks of 10 minutes. Depending on your own physical ability you can adapt the length of your rest period. And how does it help Ghada Mehat in her games? “It helps us in matches...

A growth mindset for referees is crucial. It’s a mindset that looks for chances, seeks for development. No matter your age or level, you can become a better referee. Some strategies to adopt a growth mindset. Continue reading...

The difference between a referee with a growth mindset and one with a static (or fixed) mindset lies in how they perceive their abilities, handle challenges, respond to feedback, and approach improvement. This blog post focuses on “What defines the difference between a referee with a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset”. I’ve also written another blog post that shares strategies that referees can use to adopt and maintain a growth mindset 1. Attitude Toward Challenges Growth Mindset: Sees challenges as opportunities to learn and improve. Believes effort and persistence can lead to better outcomes. Thrives in situations that push them out of their comfort zone, like officiating high-pressure matches or adapting to new rules. Static...

Agility exercises for referees will help enhance their footwork and ability to change direction quickly. These agility drills, such as cone drills or ladder drills, are crucial for maintaining optimal positioning during dynamic play. In this blog post some reasons why these type of exercises will help you as a referee. The stills in this blog post are from the AFC video channel. In recent series they follow their top level referees. From 16 minutes in episode one you’ll see some examples of those referee drills. AFC referee fitness instructor Banjar Al-Dosari says that the referees need to be top at every level and mentions agility as one of the training areas. 1. Quick changes of direction Referees need to constantly adjust their...

Referee Sandra Bastos on fitness: “never stop completely when season ends”. Bastos is Portugese Elite referee in the European competitions. This applies to the summer break, but also for the winter period. She shares how she spends her time in the break, so her body will be ready when the games begin. Continue to be active Sandra Bastos was happy to share her experiences with the readers of Dutch Referee Blog. On the 12th of December she officiated in Uefa’s Women’s Champions League (Manchester City vs Sankt Pölten) and on the 22nd a game in her own country. That were here final games of 2024. “For me, a crucial factor is to never stop completely when the season ends”, she says. Her advice: “continue to be active, continue with...

Laws of the Game Quiz 2024-2025 #3 December. The final quiz of the year. With 1 clip, then 8 questions that were used in the 2024 big referee quiz on this blog. Good luck with the quiz! Laden… Continue reading...