Observers wanted!

After several hundreds of match reports for competitions like UEFA Champions League or FIFA organized tournaments such as 2012 Olympic Games have been written by many supporters of this blog's great community, we have got to a certain point being very close to specially UEFA's official referee assessment system.

While direct contact with the match officials in form of debriefings is, for comprehensible reasons, not possible, this blog has focused on publishing inofficial referee observation reports from its very beginning. It must be clear that we won't be able to touch on UEFA's professionalism, nonetheless independence and a larger distance to the officials could be our advantages.

It should not be the aim to judge, nor to discredit the match officials. These reports target at giving our point of view concerning the match officials' performances and in particular the referee's way and approach to lead a match, keeping in mind that referees and assistant referees are the most relevant part of the game, but often subject to a disproportionate public pressure and debate. 

Additionally, the referee's interpretation of the Laws of the Game as well as his tactical approach are vital components of the report. It has to be said that our report documents nearly exactly equate the official ones deployed by UEFA. An exemplary report can be found here, written by one of our supporters.

 In fact, we would like to welcome more of this blog's followers to support us writing such reports in the knockout stages of both UEFA club competitions, Champions League and Europa League. The normal procedure is like that: be assigned for a match, receive a report document, watch the match while making notes (or re-watch the match while making notes; either on TV or via download), write the report, award marks for the officials, send the report to our mailboxes and the report will be uploaded by us.

A good knowledge of the Laws of the Game and its practical application as well as a sufficient containment of the English language are main conditions. And finally, an unquantifiable value is decisive: reliability. 

If you like to join our team or just want to have a try, contact us via mail - please include a small motivational letter: footballrefereeing.blogspot@gmx.de !

Sporting regards!