U.S. Soccer Federation Referee Program
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Referee Education Resources
U.S. Soccer is committed to producing referee education resources aimed at supporting the nearly 150,000 officials across the country regularly working amateur games at the youth and adult levels.
These video resources will focus on both the interpretation and application of the Laws of the Game while also providing advice on practical refereeing.
Consistent and quality instruction at the local level is paramount to the success of the U.S. Soccer Federation Referee Program. To this end, resources specific to courses, books, videos, training topics and other instructional materials are available for download to improve developing officials of all levels.
Referee Identification and Training
These initiatives will focus on identifying and training high potential officials with the ability to referee at the professional and international levels. These efforts will see U.S. Soccer assign a network of highly qualified assessors and instructors to various elite-level regional and national events. Quantitative and qualitative data from these events will be used to classify the program's up-and-coming and high performing officials.
The selection and certification process for National Officials will be overseen by Herb Silva, Director of Referee Identification and Training. In addition to meeting a set of minimum requirements for upgrade and recertification, officials will now be reviewed and approved by a selection committee that will assist with the highly selective process of determining the finite pool of National Referees and National Assistant Referees.
Professional Referee Organization (PRO)
The Professional Referee Organization (PRO) will be responsible for managing the referee program in professional soccer leagues in the United States and Canada. The creation of PRO is designed to increase the quality of officiating in U.S. and Canadian professional leagues, develop more professional quality officials at a younger age and develop officials who will represent the United States and Canada in FIFA competitions.
U.S. Soccer and MLS will govern and fund the organization, with ongoing collaborative support from the Canadian Soccer Association and other professional leagues. PRO will manage officials in the MLS and MLS Reserve games, the North American Soccer League, USL PRO and the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Veteran English referee Peter Walton is the General Manager of PRO and will be based in New York City.
