Referees: San Marino officials at UEFA CORE 56

An intense and fascinating week of work, training and testing began on Tuesday for the San Marino refereeing team that has travelled to CORE 56 in Nyon. The UEFA Centre of Refereeing Excellence (CORE) has opened its doors, from 21 to 28 February, to eight groups of match officials from Albania, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Malta, Poland, San Marino and Türkiye. Representing San Marino refereeing at this prestigious continental gathering are referee Mattia Andruccioli and assistant referees Andrea Depaoli and Andrea Zaghini. They are joined by Stefano Podeschi, serving as an instructor for the Polish and Maltese groups. The schedule drawn up for the twenty-four European officials involved in the demanding CORE 56 programme is anything but a walk in the park. After arriving in Nyon two days ago, referees and assistants immediately plunged into a full immersion of on-field work, strength, agility and endurance training, as well as targeted sessions on some of the technical challenges that referees are most frequently called upon to assess. There will also be a test on knowledge of the latest edition of the Laws of the Game – scheduled for this afternoon. Each refereeing group has produced video recordings of matches officiated by their trio, which will be analysed tomorrow together with the assigned instructors. While for Stefano Podeschi this will mean being on the teaching side, reviewing with the Maltese and Czech trios the dynamics of the matches they have submitted, Andruccioli, Depaoli and Zaghini will do the same alongside Finn Mattias Gestranius – instructor of the San Marino team and, at the same time, of the Icelandic group. Nothing is left to chance, so that the psychological aspects linked to match control also have their place in a detailed focus session led by Van Der Pluijm. Among the renowned officials now dedicated to training Europe’s new generation of referees is German Herbert Fandel – remembered by AC Milan supporters for refereeing the 2007 UEFA Champions League final in Athens. The instructor team also includes Englishman Martin Atkinson – until last year a Premier League referee and UEFA Elite Referee – as well as Italian Mauro Tonolini. One of the most highly regarded Italian assistant referees, he can also boast an appointment to Germany-France, the UEFA EURO 2016 semi-final. Together with Pole Wierzbowski – assistant in Brazil-Türkiye, the 2022 World Cup semi-final – he has been responsible for in-depth analyses of offside situations and for the dedicated sessions for the assistant referees taking part in CORE 56.

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