During a men’s game some years ago, the right-sided defensive player who’d been marking me all afternoon asked the referee how long there was still left to play. “Five minutes!” the referee informed him. The player then whispered in my ear, “That’s still time enough to break someone’s fucking leg.” I took the threat on […]
referees
Posted inSoccer America Daily
Monday morning: What we're reading (and listening to)
1. ‘Significant human error’ by VAR proves costly for Liverpool in extraordinary Premier League match By Aimee Lewis (CNN)2. Soccer opens a door to Russia’s return, and faces a backlash By Tariq Panja (New York Times)3. FC St. Pauli to avoid youth soccer agents By Matt Ford (DW.com)
Posted inSoccer America Daily
NISA: Referees group calls for U.S. Soccer to reexamine sanctioning
• The Professional Soccer Referees Association has called on U.S. Soccer to reexamine the Professional League Sanctioning for Division 3 NISA. In a statement, PSRA says many match officials have not been paid for fees and expenses in almost three months and others have been owed payments for more than a year. PSRA asks NISA […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily
Referee Watch: 2023 U-17 Men's World Cup
• Joe Dickerson, who will serve as a VAR, is the lone U.S. official assigned to the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia (Nov. 10-Dec 2) for which 18 referees, 36 assistant referees and 18 video game officials have been appointed. He is the only Concacaf official assigned from a participant nation. The other […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily
Wednesday morning: What we're reading (and listening to)
1. FIFA moving 100+ jobs to Florida from Zurich as legal department transfers to 2026 World Cup base By Graham Dunbar (AP)2. Luca de la Torre: His move to LaLiga’s ‘higher level of football’, USMNT & more! (ESPN FC)3. Jermaine Jenas apologizes after posting criticism about referee Rob Jones By Bobbie Jackson (BBC Sport)
Posted inSoccer America Daily
Friday morning: What we're reading (and listening to)
1. Tata Martino on what he tells Lionel Messi, working for David Beckham and his love for Atlanta By Felipe Cardenas (The Athletic)2. The Revolution would rather ignore what they call the ‘noise’ and ‘baloney.’ It’s not that easy. By Tara Sulivan (Boston Globe)3. Meet Kathryn Nesbitt, the Philly referee who recently officiated the World Cup […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily
U.S. Soccer outlines its five-pillar strategy, including 'accelerated initiatives'
U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone (far left) and CEO/Secretary General JT Batson (far right) with men’s national team coach Gregg Berhalter and sporting director Matt Crocker. * * * * * * * * * * With hosting the 2026 Men’s World Cup on the horizon, U.S. Soccer, the nation’s soccer governing body, announced […]
Posted inYouth Soccer Insider
Ref Watch: Throw-ins, corner-kick own goals and the new rulebook
There were only five minutes left in the U-15 game when I first got yelled at by a parent. While I was jogging back to the center circle while looking for the jersey number of the scorer who gave his team a three-goal lead, a dad started yelling at me about not calling a foul […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential
Nick Primavera: The CEO of professional refs has deep roots in American soccer
The United States men’s national team has never come close to winning a World Cup. The women were eliminated this year in the round of 16, their earliest exit ever. But, says Nick Primavera, “Our referees are at the top of the world.” As CEO of the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) – the group that […]
Posted inSoccer America Confidential
What happens when a team stops yelling at the ref?
Is it possible to play soccer without moaning at the referee? German weekly Die Zeit decided that this rhetorical question needed further exploration. It challenged a Level 6 amateur team in Berlin, SV Empor, to try and play the entire second half of last season without confronting the match officials. The resulting documentary film (in […]