UEFA Futsal Euro 2014

Belgium, 28 January - 8 February 2014

Referees
1. Gerald Bauernfeind (AUT, 1981, photo)
2. Marc Birkett (ENG, 1978)
3. Ondrej Cerny (CZE, 1979)
4. Kamil Cetin (TUR, 1984)
5. Balazs Farkas (HUN, 1975)
6. Eduardo Fernandes Coelho (POR, 1979)
7. Fernando Gutierrez Lumbreras (ESP, 1971)
8. Oleg Ivanov (UKR, 1972)
9. Pascal Lemal (BEL, 1972)
10. Alessandro Malfer (ITA, 1975)
11. Timo Onatsu (FIN, 1973)
12. Ivan Shabanov (RUS, 1978)
13. Borut Sivic (SVN, 1971)
14. Bogdan Sorescu (ROU, 1974)
15. Sebastien Stawicki (POL, 1975)
16. Sasa Tomic (CRO, 1975)

UEFA Futsal Referees Course 2013

Europe's top futsal referees have been in the Belgian city of Ghent to prepare for upcoming assignments and receive invaluable expert advice on taking charge of games in future competitions. The 7th UEFA Course for European International Futsal Referees saw UEFA Referees Committee members and fitness instructors providing the match officials with high-level guidance in both discussions and fitness sessions. The course served as a selection process for UEFA Futsal EURO 2014 in Antwerp, Belgium, in January and February. Thirty-one UEFA referees travelled to Ghent along with two referees from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as part of an exchange program.

"UEFA is giving increasing support to futsal," said Referees Committee member Kyros Vassaras. "It is a sport which is getting very popular in Europe, and we need top referees. The course in Ghent featured training sessions and highlighted the different qualities required by a futsal referee compared with refereeing the 11-a-side game. Vassaras explained that in futsal, it is necessary to be very fast to foresee what players are going to do. "The intention of a futsal player is to play very quickly, in order to get into a better position to score," he said, "and that means the referee has to be very alert and judge from a short distance, because the field of play is small. In futsal we have two referees and they can share responsibilities to take the best possible decision." UEFA's referee fitness expert Werner Helsen, a sports scientist responsible for physical preparation and evaluation, was on hand to lead the referees' training. "We are here to present up-to-date facts and figures regarding the physical demands of refereeing in futsal," he said, before stressing the increasing demands that futsal referees face. "We saw that in 2011, the number of sprints almost doubled – meaning games have become much more demanding." Helsen explained specific elements of the course in Ghent. "We do a weighing session, and we also measure body fat percentage. We want to show specific exercises to improve speed and agility, because these are very important. We also show the referees typical exercises for visual concentration. There is a big difference between futsal referee training and 11-a-side referee training," Helsen added, "but there is almost no difference with assistant referees. A futsal referee changes his activity every two seconds, standing to walking, walking to jogging, to sprinting, while an [11-a-side] football referee is only changing activity every four seconds. The [11-a-side] referee covers more distance on the pitch – a futsal referee covers the same distance as an assistant referee in 11-a-side football. This means the way that futsal referees have to practise is similar to [11-a-side] assistant referees." Helsen's work also involves helping to prevent the most common injuries which can strike futsal referees. "Futsal referees suffer two types of injuries – to the hamstrings and Achilles tendon. We are showing the referees exercises to strengthen hamstrings, while a specific exercise known as eccentric muscle training is useful for the Achilles, because futsal referees usually officiate on hard surfaces and there is the problem of impact on the ground."
UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 will take place from 28 January to 8 February with 11 qualifiers joining the hosts. It will be the first futsal final tournament held in Belgium.

Source: UEFA

UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 – Play-off

First Leg, 17 September 2013

Ukraine – Hungary
Referee 1: Danijel Janosevic (CRO, photo)
Referee 2: Sasa Tomic (CRO)

Slovakia – Croatia
Referee 1: Bogdan Sorescu (ROU)
Referee 2: Gabriel Gherman (ROU)

Romania – Serbia
Referee 1: Oleg Ivanov (UKR)
Referee 2: Sergey Drebuzhan (UKR)

Bosnia – Netherlands
Referee 1: Karel Henych (CZE)
Referee 2: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)

Second Leg, 24 September 2013

Hungary – Ukraine
Referee 1: Alessandro Malfer (ITA)
Referee 2: Angelo Galante (ITA)

Croatia – Slovakia
Referee 1: Eduardo Fernandes (POR)
Referee 2: Nuno Bogalho (POR)

Serbia – Romania
Referee 1: Pascal Lemal (BEL)
Referee 2: Gerd Bylois (BEL)

Netherlands – Bosnia
Referee 1: Fernando Gutierrez (ESP)
Referee 2: Roberto Marin (ESP)

UEFA Futsal Cup Finals 2013

Tbilisi, 26-28 April 2013

Referees
1. Ondrej Cerny (CZE, 1979)
2. Eduardo Fernandes (POR, 1979)
3. Oleg Ivanov (UKR, 1972)
4. Francesco Massini (ITA, 1969, photo)

Timekeeper
Shota Khukhilava (GEO)

Referee Observer
Antonius Van Eekelen (NED)

Semi-finals
Iberia – Dinamo
Referee 1: Oleg Ivanov (UKR)
Referee 2: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)

Kairat – Barcelona
Referee 1: Francesco Massini (ITA)
Referee 2: Eduardo Fernandes (POR)

Match for Third Place
Barcelona – Iberia
Referee 1: Ondrej Cerny (CZE)
Referee 2: Oleg Ivanov (UKR)

Final
Kairat – Dinamo
Referee 1: Francesco Massini (ITA)
Referee 2: Eduardo Fernandes (POR)

UEFA Course for Futsal Referees and Observers

The Spanish Football Federation will host the 6th UEFA Course for Futsal Referees and Observers from 8 to 10 April 2013. There will be 23 referees in attendance, from as many national federations from Europe. UEFA will run, in parallel, a course for futsal referee observers, which will be attended by the group of top 20 European futsal observers. The lead instructor for futsal referees will be the Chairman of the Spanish Technical Commission and former Futsal World Cup referee Pedro Galan (photo). The referee observers will be instructed by Kyros Vassaras, former football referee from Greece, who is now in charge of the UEFA referee observers. In addition, all participants will meet Italian Pierluigi Collina, former FIFA and World Cup football referee, who currently is the UEFA Chief Refereeing Officer and will take part for the first time in a futsal course. The inauguration of the course is scheduled for 8 April and will be presented by the chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee, Angel Maria Villar. During the next two days (9-10 April), all referees will run fitness tests, followed by classroom sessions, both for referees and observers.

Source: RFEF

World’s Best Futsal Referee 2012: Gutierrez (ESP)

Spanish referee Fernando Gutierrez Lumbreras has been named by AGLA/Futsal Planet the world’s best futsal referee of 2012 with 206 points, ahead of the Brazilian Renata Leite (120) and English Marc Birkett (88) and is the second Spanish referee getting this award, after Pedro Galan in 2004. Gutierrez Lumbreras, 42, started his refereeing career in 1986, at the young age of 16. In the season 1995/1996 he had his debut in the top flight of the National Futsal in Spain. Ten years later, in January 2006, he received his FIFA badge. He has achieved almost everything possible: in Spain has refereed the finals of major competitions: League, Cup of Spain, Copa SM El Rey and Supercopa, while internationally has participated in the UEFA Futsal Cup, Euro 2012 in Croatia and the 2012 FIFA World Cup in Thailand. In Spain, he has been chosen five times as the best referee of the National Futsal League.

Since 1996, when FIFA introduced the list of FIFA Futsal Referees, Spain is the only country in Europe that has had at least one representative at all World Cup editions. Before Fernando Gutierrez in Thailand 2012, Pedro Galan (the current chairman of the Futsal Referees Committee) refereed at three FIFA World Cups, in Spain 1996, Guatemala 2000 and Taipei 2004, while Roberto Gracia did the same in Brazil 2008. (Source: Valladolid Deporte)

AGLA World’s Best Futsal Referees

1. Fernando Gutierrez (ESP, photo) 206

2. Renata Leite (BRA) 120

3. Marc Birkett (ENG) 88

4. Gabor Kovacs (HUN) 83

5. Danijel Janosevic (CRO) 81

6. Eduardo Fernandes (POR) 73

7. Ivan Shabanov (RUS) 73

8. Hector Rojas (PER) 72

9. Nurdin Bukuev (KGZ) 33

10. Scott Kidson (AUS) 17

UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 – Preliminary Round

23-27 January 2013

Referees

1. Olzhas Abrayev (KAZ)
2. Gerald Bauernfeind (AUT)
3. Marc Birkett (ENG, photo)
4. Veljko Boskovic (MNE)
5. Antonis Constantinides (CYP)
6. Sergey Drebuzhan (UKR)
7. Kreshnik Hakrama (ALB)
8. Stephan Kammerer (GER)
9. Borislav Kolev (BUL)
10. Ainar Kuusk (EST)
11. Roberto Marin (ESP)
12. Timo Onatsu (FIN)
13. Petros Panayides (CYP)
14. Elchin Samadli (AZE)
15. Ivan Shabanov (RUS)
16. Aleksandras Sliva (LTU)
17. Sreten Vasic (SRB)
18. Grigori Zelentsov (RUS)