The young and promising Bulgarian referees from the Efbet league - the head Kristian Kolev and the assistant Darin Ivanov, successfully represented the country and the BFU to UEFA under the CORE (Centre Of Refereeing Excellence) programme, involving 12 pairs of referees from all over Europe.
The two were invited to Nyon, Switzerland, for two seminars - introductory (25.03-1.04) and confirmatory (22.09-26.09), under the guidance of the renowned German referee from the recent past - Herbert Fandel.
The home referees were observed and assessed by their mentors in a number of meetings of the home elite, and during their stay abroad, they heard motivating lectures from UEFA Referees Committee Chairman Roberto Rosetti (Italy), UEFA VAR Project Officer Pavel Gill (Poland) and elite English referee Anthony Taylor, who shared their experiences.
Our boys covered the theoretical exam without any mistake and showed an enviable physical preparation in the various speed, endurance and flexibility standards under the watchful eye of fitness coaches prof. Joao Dias (Portugal) and Maris Smirnovs (Latvia). At the end of the second seminar the Bulgarian judging team received certificates for the successful completion of the course.
