The deadline to nominate international referees for the upcoming year was 1 October 2018. In the circular no. 1648 that was sent to the member associations on 5 September 2018, FIFA indicated, for the first time ever, that "the futsal and beach soccer referee roles are now gender neutral. Both men and women can be nominated to these roles since separate roles for women no longer exist in these categories. The futsal and beach soccer fitness test applies equally to both men and women.”
1. The proposed referees shall be at least 25 years old (23 years old in the case of assistant referees) on 1 January of the year for which they have been nominated. For 2019, referees must be born no later than 31 December 1993 and assistant referees must be born no later than 31 December 1995 in order to ensure a minimum level of experience. FIFA reserves the right to require referees over the age of 45 (born in 1974 or before) to undergo additional technical assessments as well as specific medical examinations and fitness testing on a case-by-case basis.
2. Each candidate must be ranked based on the marks obtained for officiating games at the national level during the 12 months prior to being nominated to the list of international referees; not in alphabetical order.
3. At a minimum, all nominated referees must pass a FIFA-approved fitness test and a medical examination on or after 2 June 2018.
The FIFA Referees Committee will carefully consider all nominations submitted by each member association before deciding who will be named on the upcoming international lists.
Source: FIFA