FIFA has recently updated their Regulations on the Nomination and Appointment of FIFA International Match Officials. The biggest news is the addition of a new list in 2021 - video match officials - that could include active referees or assistant referees, as well as retired match officials. The proposed video match officials shall have officiated regularly first division matches in their country for at least two years and have officiated at least 15 matches as a VMO. There is no fitness requirement for this role. A minor change is that, starting next year, FIFA referees can wear their FIFA badge not only when officiating as referees, but also for other roles, which was not allowed before. Finally, these regulations indicate that “match officials shall wear their respective FIFA badges at all international matches”; however, that might not be fully applicable with the recently introduced UEFA and CONMEBOL badges.
Nomination conditions
1. Lists of candidates including both women and men shall be compiled for:
a) referees
b) assistant referees
c) video match officials
d) futsal referees
e) beach soccer referees.
2. When nominating a candidate, member associations shall observe the following conditions:
a) Candidates may be nominated for only one list, except for video match officials (VMOs), who can also be referees or assistant referees.
b) Member associations that do not have an organised league may not make any nominations.
c) The maximum number of match officials from each member association shall be decided annually by the FIFA Referees Committee, taking the following factors, among others, into account:
I. The level of refereeing of each member association
II. The level or professionalization of competitions within each member association
II. The level or professionalization of competitions within each member association
d) The proposed match officials 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.
e) The proposed match officials shall have officiated regularly at matches at the highest level in the member association of their country for at least two years.
f) Only candidates who have officiated more often as assistant referees than as referees in the previous 12 months may be considered for the list of international assistant referees.
g) The proposed video match officials (VMOs) shall have officiated regularly at matches at the highest level in the member association of their country for at least two years and have officiated at least 15 matches as a VMO. They can also be directly certified by FIFA or the confederations. There is no fitness requirement for this role.
h) The proposed match officials shall have passed the appropriate FIFA fitness test related to their category, as well as a medical examination certifying that they are fit to act as match officials within the four months prior to the deadline for nomination for the FIFA Refereeing International Lists (1 June – 30 September). FIFA reserves the right to require match officials over the age of 45 to undergo additional technical assessments as well as specific medical examinations and fitness testing on a case-by-case basis.
i) Candidates who are temporarily injured, ill or pregnant (or recovering from pregnancy and/or childbirth) at the time of nomination may be approved provisionally until they have passed the above-mentioned medical examination and physical fitness test and FIFA has received official notification of the results.
j) The member associations shall supply FIFA with the rankings of the proposed match officials based on the marks obtained at national level. These rankings shall apply only to first-division matches at which they have officiated in the 12 months prior to their nomination.
k) Nominations must be submitted no later than 1 October via the link provided by FIFA Refereeing.
l) Failure to fulfil any of the foregoing conditions will lead to rejection of the candidate(s) in question.
Changing roles
International match officials included in one of the lists for any given year may not be proposed for any other list until a period of 12 months (for specialised training) has elapsed. This period shall begin on the day on which the match official concerned no longer appears on the international list. The video match official (VMO) role is exempted from this article.
Conflicts of interest
Match officials proposed for the lists may not exercise any official function as a member of an executive committee, as a general secretary, or as a member of the referees committee of any football club, member association, confederation or FIFA during the year for which they have been appointed.
Validation of Nomination
The FIFA Referees Committee shall decide upon any nominations for the FIFA Refereeing International Lists. The FIFA Referees Committee may consult the confederations before reaching a decision.
Allotments
The FIFA Referees Committee reserves the right to decide on the number of match officials that it deems appropriate for each category of match officials, and may disregard the rankings provided by the member associations under art. 6 par. 2 j) of these regulations.
Badges
The selected match officials shall receive FIFA international match official badges representing the category for which they were approved. The match officials shall wear their respective badges at all international matches which they officiate during the year for which they were appointed and may wear them for domestic matches as well. They may not, however, wear their FIFA international match official badge if it does not match their role in a match, unless they are a FIFA international referee, in which case they can also wear their badge for other roles.
Expectations of behaviour
FIFA international match officials shall be role models. As such, they are expected to behave with dignity and respect, while complying with all applicable FIFA regulations and guidelines.
Suspension and removal requests by a member association
The member association to which an international match official is affiliated may submit a formal request to the FIFA Referees Committee to suspend or remove the match official from the lists for any justifiable reason.
Suspensions and removals by the FIFA Referees Committee
The FIFA Referees Committee reserves the right to suspend or remove any international match official from the lists on grounds of performance, behaviour or for any other justifiable reason.
Source: FIFA
