Foreign Referees in EPL

[Scotty Ref]

Thomson wasn't nominated as he is 45. Technically FIFA have removed the upper age limit, but there are very few referees on the list who are over 45. Thomson had a good innings on FIFA for the last 15 years, it was time for someone else to get a chance. I would guess that he might resign as a cat 1 at the end of the season.

It's always been that way with the Cat 1s, where only a smaller group have handled premiership games. However having this bigger group give an advantage as it means that it's easier to give some of the inexperienced cat 1's a game in the premiership (unlike in England where there is a separate list for Prem/other divisions.

To be fair in Scotland we have punched above our weight on FIFA, to have had 2 elite FIFA referees is an acheivment in itself

 

[zarathustra]

Although I’m a lowly 6 going for 5 I suspect the reason England is perhaps short of the full compliment of FIFA refs is down to politics.

The average age for referees in SG1 is relatively high. And I don’t believe that there are no other referees in SG2 who aren’t capable of making the jump to SG1, or that there aren’t plenty of level 1s ready to make the jump to SG2.

I’m not suggesting that we sack the older members of SG1, but it wouldn’t hurt to add more referees who are young enough to have a shot at the highest international level.

It would also help reduce the workload of sg1 in general.

 

[cwyeary]

When you look at the list of referees in the Premier League this season, something is very eye-opening. Chris Kavanagh is the only person on here who isn't a current FIFA or isn't too old to become a FIFA. They should probably be working some younger SG1 referees into the fold now before they need 5 or 6 new full time refs within two seasons.

https://www.premierleague.com/referees/index