The FIFA's Elite Referee Observer Seminar was held in Sofia in January with 28 participants attending the five day event. The seminar was held in collaboration with the Bulgaria FA Referees’ Committee. The Elite Referee Observer group operates at the Elite Level and is responsible for monitoring the performance level of the Elite Referee Panel. UEFA`s refereeing officer Marc Batta, who is also the supervisor of the Bulgarian referees, was a special guest of the seminar. Thanks to the personal efforts of the President of the Bulgarian Football Union Borislav Mihailov, the 61-year-old Bata accepted to act as a consultant and to assist the development and training of the Bulgarian referees. Bata expressed his satisfaction and praised the BFU Referees Committee for their accomplishments and endeavour.
“The Bulgarian referees are at the same level as the other referees. They can improve their level. I watched a lot of matches here in Bulgaria and I think that their level is good. The BFU Referee`s Committee did a good job and we will continue to work in the future in that matter. The key is to work. I will explain to the referees that if they want to be successful in the future they need to work a lot,” Batta said.
The main goal of the seminar was to improve the quality of referee observers using the new interactive way of analyzing the situations on the pitch. Another objective was to ensure that referee observers have the same criteria as referees.
The main instructor at this seminar was FIFA`s Technical Referee Instructor Steve Bennett.
"I worked with the Bulgarian referees a couple of years ago. We did two courses. They are certainly aware of all the regulations from UEFA and FIFA and certainly they are aware of the Laws of the Game. Like any referees you always have to remind them about the new laws and new concepts that we often introduce. So there are changes from each year, small changes that they have to be aware of and they have to think quickly on the field of play. This is important. It`s about awareness, concentration, understanding and being able to make a decision in a very short space of time. In order to bring up the level of referees we have to bring up the level of referee instructors and also we have to make sure the observers are reporting the correct information from the match on to the report in order for the referees to learn," Bennett said.
The Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman of the BFU Referees Committee, Mr. Peter Petrov noted that such seminars contribute to the development of the Bulgarian referees and observers, as the goal is to reach the elite in European refereeing.
"On behalf of the entire Refereeing Committee, I would like to thank the BFU president Mr. Borislav Mihailov for his help to convince Mr. Batta to engage himself as a consultant for the Bulgarian referees. Not just as a supevisor, but as a person who will be responsible for the development and education not only for our elite referees, but also for the newcomers. So that we could reach the top level of Europen refereeing in a short period of 3-4 years. The goal is to have a referee in the Elite or First division of European refereeing rankings. All this happened because of the BFU President’s efforts and understanding.”
According to Petrov referee observers should not be perceived as "error finders", because they play a key role for referees’ development.
“The refereeing is constantly developing. The referee observers need to be mentors and trainers, they have to analyze what is causing referees’ errors. Through this process of communication and analysis we could be helpful and this will be of great benefit for our referees and their development”, said Petrov.
The BFU Referees Committee`s work is not limited to the organization of joint seminars and receiving deserved compliments from prominent and internationally recognized top referees such as Bata and Bennett. This is a long process of development and training the young referees, following all modern trends, priority is also communication with the clubs, players and media, which are all part of the football game.
“The most important thing is to guarantee fairplay and to apply the Laws of the Game. Secondly, I want to say that we will give a chance to many young, promising and good referees. Rejuvenation is not a sole purpose, the Bulgarian referees are working under the international convention of UEFA, signed by all of its member associations and we are following strictly these requirements. There must be tolerance and understanding, because everyone makes mistakes, footballers as well, it is a human thing to make mistakes. Our task is to create the organization and to train its members, but everything else depends on them. They have to work hard to be successful. We have to do it step by step and we will!”, Petrov finished.
At the end of this successful event Steve Bennett rewarded all participants with a FIFA Certificate of Attendance.
Department "Public Relations and Media"
