Moving to spain
- Thread starter Egg man
- Start date
Assume you are relocating you work and home life too?
I think you have to coordinate somehow for your registration to be transferred to your new association, and they then determine the level at which to start you off in the new country.
ChasObserverRefDeveloper
Regular Contributor
When ready to move, you need to confirm that fact to the County FA RDO and also the Refereeing Department at The FA.
On arrival, advise the Spanish FA and the local FA (equivalent of the CFA in England.
Good luck!
I see you're in Hampshire? There's a local referee in wilts who used to be a four before moving for work to Europe (including Spain). Happy to DM you his name in case you've come across him and could ask him? Afraid I don't have a contact!
Please do, More contacts the better.
When I enquired several years back about moving to Australia - they said I would have to start at the bottom again and work my way up. There was an option to "fast track" promotion. So I suggest its a similar scheme in Spain.
davidmt
New Member
Hi! I've been a referee in Catalunya, Spain. I can try to help, although if you move to a different region, things will be a bit different.
I've only switched countries from Spain to Canada and currently from Canada to the UK, so I can't tell exactly how it would work from the UK to Spain.
As other members have said, the first thing would be to contact the Spanish FA and, I believe even more importantly, the regional FA. For example, in Catalunya, it would be the Federació Catalana de Futbol (FCF). It's similar to the county FAs, but larger. For example, the FCF is in charge of all Catalunya, but then there are delegations, such as Barcelonès, that include the area of Barcelona and other nearby cities. I would recommend contacting them too if you know exactly where you will go. Spanish administration in general, including football, is not always very effective/quick, so you might need to be insistent when contacting.
In Spain, referees don't use the same Level system as in the UK, and it might change slightly from one province to another. If you are a pro or semi-pro referee (from 1st division to 3a federacion), the level is national, so it's simple. Being a L5, I believe you would be an amateur ref, so you will be assigned, for example, as a referee of the 2nd Catalan division (there are 4 divisions in Catalunya, but there might be fewer in smaller areas).
When I moved to Canada, apart from a letter stating my level from the Catalan Federation, they also asked me to prepare a dossier with relevant information (number of games refereed, press clips, evaluations... anything that could help my cause). In England, they have only asked for a letter of recommendation from each federation plus a letter with the level I officiated. In the end, they will make me start as an L7 ref (so as a new ref), but apparently, I can get assessed and promoted faster (fingers crossed). I don't know how it works in Spain, unfortunately.
I have the impression there aren't many physical tests in the amateur levels of English football, but in Spain, it's mandatory at least once a year. They are also strict with age limits, especially for promotion.
As you probably know, language is important for refereeing, especially in a place like Spain. If it can help you, I can share a table with referee terms in English/French/Spanish that I used when I moved to Canada.
If you have other questions, let me know! I will do my best to try to help
