Referees: thirteen new aspiring match officials in San Marino

There are thirteen – ten boys and three girls – new aspiring referees on the Titan, the result of the recent national course that began on 27 February and concluded on 2 May with the final exam at San Marino Stadium. During the various weekly sessions, several active match officials were also involved to explain some of the Laws of the Game: in particular, Laura Cordani, Gianmarco Ercolani and Giuseppe Macaddino took care of explaining offside. The end-of-course test, consisting of a written and oral exam, was successfully passed by all participants. The first part focused on the Laws of the Game, with fifteen multiple-choice questions, while the oral interview was broader in scope, with open questions asked by the FSGC National Instructor, Stefano Podeschi, and by the Head of Training for the CAN, Giacomo Cenci. Of the potential new match officials, five have already been involved in the "Primi Calci" tournament held on 3 May – closely supervised in their first steps in refereeing by Marcello Busignani (ASA President), Massimo Mattei (Appointer and CAN member) and Stefano Podeschi. Every possible future opportunity will of course be assessed to ensure that the new referees can get onto the pitch as soon as possible: in this respect, most of them will be involved in an upcoming San Marino summer tournament scheduled for early June. After that, as has also happened recently, refereeing activity will get under way with the San Marino U12 Championship. Nor is involvement in some FIGC provincial competitions ruled out, a goal on which ASA is working in close synergy with the leadership of the San Marino Football Federation.

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