Positive start for EURO 2024 referees

UEFA managing director for refereeing Roberto Rosetti addressed the media on Friday to provide a review of UEFA EURO 2024 officiating at the end of the group stage.

Speaking for an hour with journalists from across Europe, Rosetti covered a variety of topics, offering insight and reasoning behind some of the key decisions taken during matches.

Players happy with referee dialogue

One of UEFA's main areas of focus, announced before the tournament, has been to encourage referees to open dialogue with team captains to explain certain calls and Video Assistant Referee (VAR) procedures.

Rosetti believes the process is working well and discouraging other players from crowding the officials or showing dissent.

"The process is positive," he said. "The referees are giving information to the captains, who are responding in a very positive way. For the other players, it's easier: they don't go to the referee, they don't mob the referee, so this is something that's extremely positive for football.

"I spoke with top players after the games and coaches. I wanted to know their feedback and everyone is happy.

"We had some sanctions for players who didn't respect this. It's a transitional phase, but we have already received requests from national associations in Europe who want to follow this line. This will be implemented in all UEFA competitions, and we are happy that the national associations want to follow."

Referee Daniel Siebert explains a decision to Czechia captain Tomáš Souček Getty Images

VAR in focus

Rosetti also provided explanations of some of the key decisions taken during matches, sharing video clips and VAR conversations that show how officials reached their conclusions.

In total, there were 20 VAR interventions during the group stage, with eight on-field and 12 direct reviews.

The average time for a VAR decision has been 51 seconds, five seconds quicker than in the UEFA Champions League.

VAR decisions are also being shown on the stadium big screens, allowing fans to better understand what is happening in front of them.

"It's a live technical explanation – not easy to do, but this is very positive," Rosetti explained. "In the stadiums, everything is much clearer because we have an explanation on the big screen of what's going on on the pitch, and in the VAR."

Connected Ball Technology, which sends precise ball data to video match officials in real time, has also had an impact. "It's working very well and we used it on three VAR corrections," Rosetti said. "When the images don't give us a final conclusion, we have a graphic that can support us, which shows the contact of the ball."

Connected Ball Technology highlighted a handball to rule out a Belgium goal

Referee appointments

Rosetti confirmed during Friday's briefing each of the referees for the eight round of 16 matches. He believes the appointment process is one of the toughest parts of his role, with impressive performances across the board so far.

"These decisions are taken only on the quality of performance," he said. "Some referees will not be appointed not because they performed badly, but other referees performed better. Some refereeing teams did one match, some two; others will do three and, maybe some, four. My only target is to take correct decisions based on meritocracy, quality and our values."

Giovanni Stevanato 1958–2024

Rosetti also paid tribute to his former colleague Giovanni Stevanato, an Italian international assistant referee who later became one of European and world football's referee instructors and observers.

Stevanato passed away earlier this week aged 65, having taken up refereeing as a teenager in 1974, graduating to Serie A in 1995 and eventually the FIFA international list in 1998.

During a distinguished off-field career, he helped to train and develop match officials for the Italian Football Association (FIGC), UEFA and FIFA.