Kuipers the benchmark for Under-17 referees

With the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in full swing, UEFA.com attended a training session for the competition's refereeing team in Malta, gaining valuable insights from UEFA refereeing officer Marc Batta and match officials Aliyar Aghayev and Alexander Harkam.

"Up-and-coming referees nowadays all need to be in great physical condition and have a very complete footballing knowledge," said Batta during the session at the Mellieha Sports Club. "At this tournament we have young referees, because the policy is to have young referees for youth tournaments, with a view to the future. The youngest [Aghayev] is 27; the oldest [Harkam] is 31 – they're all here to improve their knowledge and gain experience, as are the assistant referees."

Echoing his thoughts was Aghayev, from Azerbaijan, who has been thoroughly enjoying life at his first final tournament: "It's only my second year on the FIFA list, so getting this appointment was a bit of a surprise for me, but a very nice one. The atmosphere has been really great and working with [observers] Adrian [Casha], Marc [Batta], Kyros [Vassaras] and Leif [Lindberg], both in the debriefs after the matches and during coaching sessions, has been a real learning experience."

Austrian referee Harkam, for his part, chose to highlight the importance of the observers' pre-tournament meetings with all the participating teams. "The observers spoke to all the players in their hotel before the tournament to make sure everybody was on the same page, showing video examples of what will be a red-card offence, a yellow card, and what will be seen as simulation or a reckless challenge, for example. The players and coaching staff have been very well-informed and it's definitely made our job easier."

The U17 tournament referees©Sportsfile

More straightforward, perhaps, though the profession itself remains extremely demanding, hence the extensive work that Batta and his colleagues devote to developing their young charges. "After each match, each team of officials have a debrief with a referee observer. Then, the day after, we have a collective debrief to work on the positive points of their performance, which is vital for making sure the referees trust in themselves. It's a two-hour session with work on areas that might need improvement.

"All the referees here are very young, but we're hoping they can use the experience from this tournament to make the step up to another level," continued Marseille-born Batta, who officiated at EURO '96 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. "A very good example is that, in 2006, Björn Kuipers refereed the final of this tournament and now, in around ten days' time, he will referee the Champions League final.

"Just as I'm sure that a few players from each of these teams will appear in the Europa League or Champions League in four or five years, I'm sure many of the referees here today will be doing the same."

Read an interview with Björn Kuipers from the 2006 finals in Luxembourg.