​After two days of physical testing, theoretical lessons, and cognitive drills, the referees in the CBF PRO category stepped onto the field this Wednesday, the 8th, to engage in activities that simulated real match situations. The Refereeing Committee was joined by Ousadia FC, a Barcelona-based club composed exclusively of Brazilian players and competing in the Quarta Catalana, one of the promotion divisions in Spanish football. Sandro Meira Ricci, president of the CBF Refereeing Committee, praised the referees for their performance during the activity and commended Ousadia FC for its commitment to the exercise’s purpose.
Davi Lacerda participated in the fieldwork at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). The session earned high marks from all involved. “This is a difficult kind of work to develop, because it’s not easy to recreate real match situations for referees to train with. It’s a different perspective; it’s not the same as a professional team’s training scrimmage. And Ousadia FC was very professional and delivered top-level work, placing our referees into game scenarios such as penalties, fouls, offsides, and other critical decisions. We had a top-tier training session today that impressed the FIFA instructors who followed the activity,” Sandro said.
The training session was celebrated by Ousadia FC as well. Edivando Júnior, widely known as “Queixinho,” expressed gratitude to the CBF for the opportunity. Lada Rojc, a FIFA technical instructor, highlighted the referees’ performance, adding, “I never imagined I would experience this in my life. I’m inside the Spanish national team’s training center with the CBF. Making a living from football isn’t easy. We go through countless challenges, and today’s training offered us a new perspective on refereeing. Choosing refereeing as a profession isn’t simple. You must balance physical readiness with psychological resilience. It’s crucial to support referees, to know them up close, and to recognize that they are remarkable people,” said the number 10, who, besides playing, is also the creator of the Spanish team’s project.
This Thursday, the 9th, the referees will conduct two more sessions at the Royal Spanish Football Federation in Madrid. In the morning, they will engage in on-field activities, and in the afternoon, the professionals will attend lectures on the new FIFA rules currently being applied at the World Cup. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence; the original version in Portuguese can be read here for reference.