Elite Category Konrad Plautz, Austria Frank De Bleeckere, Belgium Claus Bo Larsen, Denmark Steve Bennett, England Graham Poll, England Mike Riley, England Eric Poulat, France Alain Sars, France Wolfgang Stark, Germany Herbert Fandel, Germany Markus Merk, Germany Kyros Vassaras, Greece Roberto Rosetti, Italy (promoted) Massimo De Santis, Italy Stefano Farina, Italy Alain Hamer, Luxembourg Eric Bramhaar, Netherlands (promoted) Tom Henning Övrebö, Norway (promoted) Terje Hauge, Norway Olegario Benquerenca, Portugal (promoted) Yuri Baskakov, Russia Valentin Ivanov, Russia Lubos Michel, Slovakia Luis Medina Cantalejo, Spain Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez, Spain Peter Fröjdfeldt, Sweden Massimo Busacca, Switzerland Premier Category Gerald Lehner, Austria (promoted) Paul Allaerts, Belgium Anton Genov, Bulgaria (promoted) Costas Capitanis, Cyprus (promoted) Jaroslav Jara, Czech Republic Nicolai Vollquartz, Denmark (promoted) Bertrand Layec, France Laurent Duhamel, France Florian Meyer, Germany Alon Yefet, Israel (promoted) Gianluca Paparesta, Italy (promoted) Jan Wegereef, Netherlands Grzegorz Gilewski, Poland Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista, Portugal (relegated) Nicolai Ivanov, Russia Stuart Dougal, Scotland Vladimir Hrinak, Slovakia Darko Ceferin, Slovenia Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez, Spain Martin Hansson, Sweden
From an English POV, Matt Messias loses his place in the Premier Category, and his FIFA badge altogether, after effectively being demoted from the SG. Andy D'Urso also loses his FIFA badge. Mark Clattenburg and Martin Atkinson get their badge on Jan 1st, and will enter at Cat 2, as all English referees do. Spain loses 2 places and gains 0, including the loss of Arturo Dauben Ibanez, leaving them with 8. And Roberto Rosetti gets promoted, as expected.