Futsal referees put fitness first

The fourth edition of the UEFA Course for European International Futsal Referees has been taking place in Coverciano (Florence) - the technical centre of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Fitness test
After the opening ceremony on Monday, match officials took the FIFA fitness test and attended theory sessions on Tuesday. Forty referees have been representing 36 European national associations in Coverciano, and 16 of them will be officiating at the UEFA European Futsal Championship in Budapest and Debrecen, Hungary, from 19-30 January next year.

'Improve every day'
On Monday, in the presence of FIGC president Giancarlo Abete and Italian Futsal Federation president Fabrizio Tonelli, UEFA Referees Committee chairman Angel María Villar Llona officially inaugurated the course. He thanked presidents Abete and Tonelli for their hospitality. "We are here to instruct you on the rules and for you to take the fitness tests," he concluded in his address to the referees. "We want you to improve every day."

Speed and agility
On Tuesday morning, the referees took the FIFA test - a speed test, agility test and 1,000-metre run. "The most important thing is that we had no injuries, we could do the tests in good conditions and the referees performed very well," said UEFA referee fitness expert Werner Helsen. "The other positive thing is that we can also identify some points for improvement that mainly had to do with coordination and agility, which are very relevant in a Futsal match. The speed of the game has increased significantly over the years and, therefore, speed and agility have also become more important for match officials."

Theoretical work
Match officials have not only been busy only on the pitch. In the Aula Magna of Coverciano, with the support of DVDs, important theoretical work was undertaken. Dealing with red and yellow cards, reading the game and positioning and movement were the topics which the referees studied together with UEFA observers and instructors Andrea Lastrucci (Italy) and Pedro Galan Nieto (Spain).

More match officials
From the next edition of the European Championship, the number of match officials will be increased to 16 as, for the first time, 12 national teams, instead of the current eight, will take part in the tournament. At the course, in addition to the 40 referees from UEFA associations, two referees from Kyrgyzstan and Australia were present as guests together with Asian Football Confederation instructor Yasuhiro Matzusaki (Japan), while four Italian match officials were also invited to attend.