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A football referee is the official in charge of the game at local, youth, amateur and professional football matches.
You could work: evenings / weekends / bank holidays; flexibly
In your day-to-day tasks you may:
You may need to wear a uniform.
You could work on a sports field.
Your working environment may be physically demanding, outdoors in all weathers and you'll travel often.
You can get into this job by training with a professional body.
You can become a referee through a structured training programme run by the Football Association (FA).
To start, you'll need to register with your local County Football Association and complete a Basic Referee's Course.
The course is a mix of online and face-to-face training. You must complete the online learning and do safeguarding training before you complete the face-to-face module.
The online learning covers the laws of football, including:
You'll also need to complete 11 hours of face-to-face training that includes classroom-based learning and practical activity on the pitch.
To qualify, you must then referee at least five 11-a-side games and be assessed by a referee mentor.
You would usually start to referee at youth football level then progress as your experience grows. You can do further training with the FA to help you move on to referee at higher levels in both the men's and women's game.
You'll need to:
You can join the The Referees' Association for support and professional development.
You can find out more about becoming a referee from The Football Association.
With experience, you could train to become a referee training instructor, match assessor or referee development officer with a County FA.
You could also use your knowledge and experience to move into related areas, like sports development in the community.