Whether it’s your first time at a Referee Abroad tournament, or you are already a seasoned veteran, we have come up with this useful checklist of things to prepare yourself before flying out and enjoying your international experience!
1: Refereeing Essentials
- Kits: We often get asked what kits you should bring to the tourmament. With referees coming from over 50 different countries, it doesn’t matter who made your kit – if it’s Macron, Adidas, Joma, Puma or any other manufacturer, it’s all good with us!
- Kit colours: We definitely recommend bringing at least 2 different colour kits with you: not only as you’ll be working with referees from other countries, but also because team colours may clash (and they often wear black!). Black and yellow are the most common ref top colours, with blue and red a close third and fourth.
- Check & Update your Referee Abroad profile: Make sure your clothes size, referee level and contact details are fully up to date at least 1 month before the tournament starts so we can prepare for your arrival in the best possible way.
- Flags: The majority of our tournaments boast 3 officials for every match, so you’ll likely be on Assistant Referee duty too. Please bring a basic set of flags with you if possible.
- Badges: We provide you with a Referee Abroad badge for your shirt and it includes a sticky back – but you may also wish to bring your own velcro or sticky patches, especially if you want to move the badge across to a different kit.
- Physical preparation: You’ll likely be doing a number of matches each day so prepare yourself accordingly.
- And the rest…: Pitches in Europe are mainly astro/3G, but there are exceptions, while fields in the USA are largely grass. So pack your boots accordingly! And of course your match sheets, yellow and red cards, whistle, pen and coin.
2: Travel Essentials
- Submit your travel details: remember to submit your travel details via this form so we know exactly when you’ll be with us
- Passport or ID card: Apart from needing these in order to fly, they will used to check in at the hotel, and also in case you need medical assistance or hospital treatment – so make sure you bring one of them with you at all times, even when going to fields to referee.
- Check the weather: Sun cream will be a definite requirement at many of our destinations – and remember to extensively apply it every hour or so. We also recommend bringing a refillable water container to keep hydrated all day long. For those cooler locations, you may consider an undershirt and gloves.
- Roaming data: All communications during the tournament will be via our website and WhatsApp, so it’s ideal if you have a data package to be connected 24/7.
- Ride Apps: Download Uber and Bolt apps as these can be useful and affordable options for getting around. We also use them during a few of our tournaments to get refs to and from games.
- Language Learning: Grab a few words of the local lingo so you’re ready to go on and off the field.
- Cash: Depending on the destination, some local currency in cash might be useful as some establishments may not take cards.
3: Our community
- Trade ref kits and accessories with other refs: With so many countries represented at our tournaments, we often see referees exchanging their referee shirts, coins or other such accessories with officials from other countries. You may want to consider bringing an extra shirt or coin for the occasion – as well as some space in your bag for what you get in return!