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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...

The stepped approach for referees in managing players is crucial. By building up your management and disciplinairy decisions, the actions you take feel logic towards the players. But this doesn’t mean it always starts without a card, sometimes a higher step on the ladder is more appropriate. In this blog post you’ll learn more about the stepped approach. And I’d love to hear how this works for you in your games. What is the stepped approach? When you manage players you want to give clear signals what you tolerate, because then everyone can understand the decisions. After a verbal warning, a yellow card wouldn’t come as a surprise normally. So what are the steps you can take? Just a free kick Free kick and personal warning. Or a quiet...

Positioning learnings from the Klassieker Ajax vs Feyenoord. Clips from my game. Continue reading...

So I decided to do a blog of my experiences as a grassroots youth football referee. And here it is: https://grassrootsreferee.blog/

The second Laws of the Game Quiz of 2024-2025. I try to maintain the clip, but might publish a quiz less frequently. This is a test with 10 questions instead of 5. And a few clips this time. How is that for you? Plus one of the video questions will also be published as case study to explain the situation. You can always practise previous quizzes on this overview page. And after submitting your answers, you can see the correct answers immediately. The video is added to the form. Laden… Continue reading...

The new guideline in most countries for referee protests is: only the captain can approach the referee. It started at the European Championships and was successful. And as Björn Kuipers, now UEFA Referee Committe member says in a video message: “We need to take bad behaviour seriously”. But how do you apply this in your games? In this blog post some practical guidelines and advice for match officials. The basics of this new guideline The laws already had options to deal with dissent or protests, but despite that referees are “regularly subjected to verbal and/or physical dissent”. That’s how IFAB, the governing body of the football laws, describres it. “It sometimes results in players running at the referee and surrounding or mobbing...

High-intensity exercise #8 from Switzerland. This exercise is run by Swiss referees in the 3rd and 4th Division and was suggested by a blog reader. How the exercise works The exercise is shared with me on Instagram. Below I share the steps on how to run. Check for yourself how intense this one is, so you can adapt the repetition to your ability and liking. Start with a jog at 60% from goal-line to halfway line. Then add some some speed and sprint to the other goal-line. Slowly jog 5-10 metres parallel to the goal-line and walk to the halfway line then. Next step: jog at 60% to the goal-line where you started Slowly jog 5-10 metres parallel to the goal-line Then a full pitch-length sprint follows Slowly jog 5-10 metres parallel to...

This blog post explains the KNVB fitheidsmeting, a Dutch fitness test for referees. This new fitness test is introduced in the season 2024-2025, because they want to create a test that connects with refereeing at every amateur level. Why this new test? The tests is based on parts of the (ideas behind the) FIFA fitness test, YoYo test, Interval Shuttle run test or Intermittend Fitness test. Referees can score points the longer they take part in the test. Other crucial criteria: Easy to organise Related to what referees do in their games at amateur level Referees can easily train for it The test is accessible for referees at all physical (condition) levels There is still a possibility to see difference between fit and extra fit referees...

High Intensity Training #7: a new exercise that I tried during a training session with fellow referees in The Hague. Make sure you don’t do too much, because it’s quite a hard one. It looks like an Uefa exercise, but the timing is a little different. How the exercise works You start on the goal-line at one side of the pitch. You can use either cones or just the lines of the field. You start with a high-intensity run from the goal-line to the halfway line in 10 seconds You jog in 20 seconds to the other goal-line You come back to your starting goal-line in 20 seconds Rest and recovery for 10 seconds You run 75m in 15s (just outside the arc of the penalty area at the other end) You continue in the same direction to the goalline in...

Handling the ball to stop a promising attack. How do you deal with that as a referee? In this case study you’ll get a full explanation on how to handle as referee. How would you handle in the situation above? Because the laws about deliberate handballs inside the penalty area changed a little bit, this is a good moment to explain them. The first question that we have to answer is: does the player make an handball offence? And if yes: what kind of offence is it? In this case the defender does touch the ball with his hands, have a good look at that number 3. But which type of handball offence are we talking about? Deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm Making your body unnaturally bigger while touching the ball with your...

The first Laws of the Game Quiz of 2024-2025. I try to maintain the clip, but might publish a quiz less frequently. I might try out tests with 10 questions. Plus I want to try out a quiz with just clips in cooperation with Labhipermedia on ther Wepermedia platform. All new things coming up. Plus the video question will also be published as case study to explain the situation. Video for question 1 You can always practise previous quizzes on this overview page. And after submitting your answers, you can see the correct answers immediately. Video is starting at 2 minutes and 18 seconds with a handball. Quiz Laden… Continue reading...

2024-2025 Laws of the Game changes in football are announced. Below you’ll find an outline summary of Law changes. No big changes. Most interesting for referees is info non-deliberate handball and DOGSO, shin guards (but remains quite general) and different approach on encroachment in line with VAR. Download a full pdf for the LOTG 2024-2025 (in English). Law 1 – The Field of Play Law 3 – The Players Law 4 – The Players’ Equipment Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct Law 14 – The Penalty Kick Continue reading...

The Euro 2024 match officials have been announced. Below the list with referees for the European Championships in Germany. The full list with all officials can be downloaded at the Uefa website. What are the biggest surprises for you? The referees and their assistant referees Video match officials The full list with all officials can be downloaded at the Uefa website. Continue reading...

At times during Pre season games there's a bit more of a relaxed attitude. Situations are managed a bit more and if a players gets a bit out hand he is subbed. However there has to still be an element of credibility and if your going to go in like this during a game pre season or not you should still expect punishment! All the blog posts I had seen on this and the video didn't show a red card. So I went looking for a match report. There didn't seem to be one on the Newport County site. However on the WalesOnline site there is a match report. I quote But as Lee then worked his way across the field, Miller brought his run to a stop with a lunging tackle and the game was delayed for 10 minutes as medics attended him. Miller, who...

FIFA referee István Kovács shares his favourite fitness exercises with the readeres of my blog. It’s a high-intensity training sessions and below he explains how it goes and why he loves it. István Kovács is a Romanian Elite referee for Uefa and he officiated the 2022 Conference League final. He also has been to several final tournaments now. Because he’s top fit, I asked him to share his favourite exercise with me. “My favorite is exercise is 10 times 400 m run”, he says. That’s one lap on the athletics track. And what is his pace? “400 m in 70 sec and 1 min recovery between each lap.” It is a HI training session and it helps me during the matches, because it keeps my heart rate high for long time. I feel never tired during the...

Week 12 Laws of the Game Quiz 2023-2024. A new quiz season has started. Every Tuesday a new quiz. Video for question 1 The next quiz will be published next Tuesday. You can always practise previous quizzes on this overview page. And after submitting your answers, you can see the correct answers immediately. Video is starting at 32 seconds. Quiz Laden… Continue reading...