Referee Matthew De Gabriele, and assistant referees Theodore Zammit and Dusan Petrovic, at present are in UEFA’s Nyon Headquarters participating in CORE’s educational programm – now in its seventh year – aimed at young officials with potential international prospects in the coming years (todate is proving to be a great success and more than 320 CORE participants have already become FIFA officials).
In attendance for this course held between 16 and 24 May, one finds European officials from several countries (namly Andorra, Croatia, Kosovo, Malta, Moldova, Sweden, and Wales), as well as a trio from the Confederation of African Football.
During this course, our officials are being closely monitored by referees’ coach Radan Miryanov (Bulgaria), assistant referee coach Leif Lindberg (Sweden) and physical fitness coaches Werner Helsen (Belgium) and Lluis Cortés Cava (Andorra).
Participants are being given physical training on football pitches and surrounding tracks, technical training and on social topics in conference halls, and have to undergo physical tests – everything under the general guidance of David Elleray (CORE Senior Course Leader), Kyros Vassaras (CORE Instructor) and with the contribution of ten specialists in their specific fields: 6 referee coaches, 2 assistant referee coaches and 2 fitness coaches.
Apart from these theoretical and practical training sessions, as part of the course this weekend referee teams took charge of matches (one each) from the French and Swiss leagues which afterwards are analysed first individually with their respective coaches with the use of DVD clips, and then in general audience; in the case of the Maltese trio, it was a match from the French Football 4th League between Chasselay MDA and Grenoble Foot 38 (0-3) played on Saturday at Stade Ludovic Giuly 1, in Chasselay.
In the coming months, the officials will be keeping in regular contact with their coaches so that thier progress will be closely monitored; then next October they will be invited again to UEFA Headquarters for the CORE Consolidation Course.