This somewhat makes sense in particular. I was always under the impression that in these smaller countries, they would make every effort to find "the chosen one" as early as possible and then do everything possible to advance that individual. Since, as you mentioned, these countries don't have as many FIFA slots, they would want to identify that one person they are going to push like crazy and to do that from as young of an age as possible. Using Slovenia again, if they have identified some promising young mid-20s referee, I would think they are already starting to pave the way for that referee to be in a position to eventually replace Skomina - and to be ruthless to make a change if that referee isn't going to be the right option.
Slovenia is actually a really weird/bad example to use here, because in addition to Skomina (1976), Matel Jug (1980) had some minor success and Slavko Vincic (1979) is flourishing in the UCL right now--he likely deserves promotion to Elite status this week or in the summer. So a minor country has found two referees, close in age, that can both compete for major tournament slots--and they had almost found a third. After a fourth referee, who has seemed to do very little internationally (Kajtazovic, 1982), there is Rade Obrenovic (1990) who is starting to be looked at for progression. So he fits that mold that you're talking about. But Slovenia finds itself in a very good position compared to other small nations because of Vincic. Oddly, Slovenia does this in spite of the President of UEFA, Ceferin, being Slovenian and not being a fan of Skomina or other domestic referees. Usually that national allegiance works in a referee's favor. But my understanding is that it has the opposite effect with Ceferin and that he has worked to block Skomina's rise in the past.
Makes sense, since they were already getting International matches as discussed in other CONCACAF tournament related threads.
Thanks, you beat me too making that point! Simply amazing work of Vlado Sajn in his nation: CL Final referee (Skomina); referee who was on the cusp of Elite and unlucky not to make it and today got a huge EL game (Jug); very big talent who is blocked by Čeferin from getting Elite where he could reach a lot (Vinčić); hugely prospective referee that managed to totally f*ck up a game at U17 EURO which give Čeferin the excuse to block his promotion (Obrenovič); and a 'normal' talent of whom I have not seen much (Kajtazovič). And also they tried to push a guy called Mitja Žganec but it didn't go very well. I don't know much about what Sajn did there, and he seems to be out from UEFA since I can remember (Čeferin? I mean...), but his results are amazing. It's not just lobbying - this tiny country could / should have fourish Elite referees. Wow! By the way Čeferin wants to avoid allegations of nepotism, why he blocks fellow Slovenians.
I don’t understand why Ceferin feels like he has to block Slovenian referees to show he doesn’t favor them. Just leave the room when there are discussions about his countrymen. I get wanting to avoid a conflict of interest, but he doesn’t have to undermine his compatriots.
I agree - but as Čeferin more-or-less controls the Referee's Committee anyway (he wants 11v11 games, no surprise that giving RC-SFPs has gone out of fashion, Frappart for USC etc.) it's a natural step I guess. On another note - would you open a new thread for CWC? Ghorbal with the opening game, Elfath is FO, Millot leads VAR team.
In a way this is a refreshing change. It is usually just the opposite, with committee chairs and members actively pushing and promoting their own people and blocking certain other rivals. But I agree, he should remain neutral and not deliberately block anyone. PH
Not this year! A few weeks ago, FIFA converted the traditional webpage-per-national association lists to one giant PDF for 2019. See the bottom of this link: https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/what-we-do/education-and-technical/referees/ I suspect we'll see an updated PDF for 2020 in a few days. That's really annoying, because it makes it cumbersome to search for information on a particular national association without scrolling through a 300-page document. They also scrubbed the birth years of all officials--I've seen speculation that this is about privacy concerns but it could just as easily be laziness for all I know. In sum, it looks like a decent size step back for keeping track of and researching FIFA referees.
Yeah. The birth years are relevant in 98% of cases and are really helpful when you combine them with the "first year on list" date to figuring out what kind of future a referee might have. I really wish FIFA would publish each list by national domestic ranking, too, rather than alphabetically. But I know that's a pipe dream.
I never realized how many countries have SO MANY FIFA refs. Russia, Portugual, Spain, etc. Why does the US have so few?
I suppose anyone really interested could take the time to rearrange the list and post it for others to see and use. PH
I thought that CONCACAF, which does the assigning for the Gold Cup, WC qualifiers and many lesser events, had the power to say that if they didn't like someone, they wouldn't get assignments, so it would be a waste of time to nominate them. Is that correct or did I misunderstand?
The only thing I can think of is that USSF/PRO (I know it's officially USSF, but I have to think that PRO also has significant input) wants any referee it officially nominates to be one that they feel can truly handle international matches. Personally, I'd rather see all of the allotted slots used. If this means a borderline referee has a white badge and is later found to not be up to par, so be it. I'd rather see a referee be on the FIFA list and then be removed than not use up all of the slots and perhaps miss a diamond in the rough that just needed a chance. To use an analogy to the NFL Draft, sometimes a number one draft pick like JaMarcus Russell is a colossal bust while a third-round pick like Russell Wilson turns out to be the real deal.
Finally, FIFA posted the updated list: https://resources.fifa.com/image/up...ch-officials.pdf?cloudid=bdhkmbhyt2evwe69isju
Looks like one change for the US on the female side. Christina Unkel has come of the list and Danielle Chesky has been added. I had the chance to meet Danielle last summer in Michigan at the Region 2 youth tournament. She was there as one of the referee mentors.
Very interesting. I was told he was nominated. Anyone from CSA have info? This could be one of those rare cases where a nomination got vetoed. Also for those who asked, the document contains information on the consultative role the confederations play in the process. Finally, count me in the camp of anyone who doesn’t like the merging of the men’s and women’s list. The document explicitly says women referees can’t referee men’s matches unless they pass the men’s fitness test. What would have been really useful is identifying which women did so. Instead, they just tossed everyone on the same list and then still identified people by gender. Pretty pointless and not useful.