UEFA referee courses in Corfu

Europe's international referees will gather on the Greek island of Corfu for the annual UEFA referee courses from 28-30 January.

Review and preparation
The courses, organised by UEFA and hosted by the Hellenic Football Federation, serve as a review of the first half of the European football season, and as preparation for the second half of the campaign, which will begin soon after the Corfu activities.

Advanced course
UEFA has invited 29 élite-class referees – many of whom took part in last year's FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan – and 21 first-class referees to Corfu for the eleventh UEFA Advanced Course for Top and First-Class Referees. They will be joined by six young referees who are taking part in the UEFA 'talents and mentors' course, in which up-and-coming match officials are given career guidance by former top European referees. A top referee from the Oceania confederation, Australian Mark Shield, will also attend the advanced course together with a group of experienced Greek referees.

52 newcomers
A group of 52 newcomers to the European international refereeing scene will take part in the 12th UEFA Introductory Course for International Referees, in which they will train and receive briefings about their duties as match officials for UEFA games.

Quality the message
The word 'quality' will be a key message at the course. "The high-quality refereeing seen in UEFA competitions this season will be something we wish to maintain and improve on and examples of this will be shown in the new preparatory video footage used during the courses," said European football's governing body.

Fitness work
Events in Corfu will centre on theoretical, practical and plenary sessions, and all of the referees involved – veterans and rookies – will be involved in fitness work and tests. This year, the élite referees will not have to pass the traditional fitness test, but they will have a specific training session, where their fitness preparation will be checked. "The UEFA Referees Committee is continuing its close co-operation with the experienced referees on the courses in an effort to keep up the progress seen in refereeing of late," said a UEFA statemnt.

Strenuous test
Meanwhile, the introductory-course referees will take the strenuous fitness test, in which they will have to run a minimum 2,700 metres in 12 minutes, two 50-metre sprints in a maximum 7.5 seconds per sprint, and two 200-metre sprints in a maximum 32 seconds per sprint.

Racism lecture
Away from the training field, the participants in both the advanced and introductory courses will hear a presentation about activities to counter racism within European football, before the two courses split to look at a variety of technical and administrative issues.

Working groups
The advanced-course referees will attend working-group discussions to look at topics such as uniform application of the Laws of the Game, and consistency in punishing unfair challenges. They will also hear about UEFA's media strategy for the forthcoming UEFA EURO 2004™ final round in Portugal.

Instructions and advice
The main purpose of the introductory course is for the Referees Committee to provide new European referees with the necessary instructions and advice for applying the Laws of the Game in a uniform manner in UEFA matches.

Referee's duties
These newcomers will also be instructed in the duties that international referees must perform off the pitch, such as preparation for international matches, conduct at the match venue and during the journey, and completion of official UEFA documents. In addition, the new referees will take an English test, in line with UEFA's requirement that modern-day UEFA referees should be able to speak English to an appropriate level.