Refs told to fulfil promise

Europe's up-and-coming men and women referees have been urged by UEFA to make maximum use of their talent to become the top match officials of tomorrow.

Desire and intelligence
At the eighth UEFA talents and mentors seminar at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, the referees were encouraged to show desire and intelligence to reach the highest levels of their trade. "Talent is not enough," UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh told them. "You need the passion and commitment to use your talent and develop it, to be the best you can be. Some talents never go beyond being talents. Going over the bridge from a talent to the top is not easy.

Courage to decide
"Top referees have to know the difference between a fair tackle and a foul, a dive and an accidental fall, and must have the courage to make the decision that goes with that judgement," Roxburgh added. "They must have a feeling for the game's subtleties, and an ability to read the game on the move – seeing, understanding and responding to what is happening in a particular match. Referees must also be leaders, to enable them to handle people. You've shown you have the talent, but will that talent mature into a top-level performer?"

Expert guidance
Under the talents and mentors scheme, promising match officials are given expert guidance by experienced former élite referees to help them in their preparations for what they hope will a successful career in European football. The mentors remain in constant contact with their referees by email or phone, and by either visiting them or inviting them to the mentors' respective countries.

Major task
"This programme is a major task for all of us – it's about the future of European refereeing," said Michal Listkiewicz, second vice-chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee, who oversees the talents and mentors initiative. "You are the future. We have excellent referees in Europe, but of course time is running and we have to accept that one day, today's top referees will stop and become teachers themselves. Refereeing is one of the most important elements in football – it is not possible to play a top game without referees. Work hard, listen and ask questions ... and remember that the most important game is the next one."

139 talents
A total of 139 talents have been groomed since the programme started, representing 50 UEFA member associations. Three former talents will be in action at UEFA EURO 2008™ – Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium), Massimo Busacca (Switzerland) and Howard Webb (England) – while seven of the eight fourth officials selected for duty in Austria and Switzerland are also former talents.

The refereeing talents attending the seminar are:

Men's programme: William Collum (Scotland), Gardar Orn Hinriksson (Iceland), Albert Toussaint (Luxembourg), Lee Evans (Wales), Alexey Kulbakov (Belarus), Alexei Nikolaev (Russia), Istvan Vad (Hungary), Dejan Filipovic (Serbia), Sascha Kever (Switzerland), Peter Rasmussen (Denmark), Babak Guliyev (Azerbaijan), Hannes Kaasik (Estonia), Cüneyt Çakir (Turkey), Aleksandar Stavrev (F.Y.R. Macedonia), Marcin Borski (Poland), Robert Schérgenhofer (Austria).
 
Women's programme: Florence Guillemin (France), Kirsi Savolainen (Finland), Teodora Albon (Romania), Esther Staubli (Switzerland).

Elite talent group: Martin Atkinson (England), Felix Brych (Germany), Nicola Rizzoli (Italy).