The past two years have been very challenging for all of us referees and observers. For more than a year, depending on our country of residence, all football activities came to a stop and, looking at international tournaments, even when the former restarted, the latter couldn’t due to the many restrictions on international travel.
We’re now optimistic that 2022 could well be the year we “go back to normal”, and international tournaments will indeed restart. In order to keep our tournaments and referee groups safe though, which is our utmost priority, Referee Abroad has decided to introduce a new policy.
From the moment tournaments will restart, only referees, observers and staff members who have been fully vaccinated against covid-19 will be allowed to participate. If you are not vaccinated we will have to deny your application.
Likewise, not all vaccines will be accepted. We will only accept referees, observers and staff that have been fully vaccinated with one of the shots currently approved for use by the EMA (European Medicines Agency). At the time of writing these are: Pfizer-Biontech; Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen. Please be aware that further restrictions may apply depending on the country that hosts the tournament you’ll be participating into. It is your responsibility to check that you satisfy all requirements for travel, including but not limited to vaccination status.
We are aware that in some cases vaccination is not a choice. If any referee, observer and staff couldn’t get vaccinated due to an underlying health issue, he will be able to take part if he’s willing to undergo repeated swab or antigen tests, as prescribed by current guidelines by the WHO. If however you’re not vaccinated because of a personal choice, at this moment in time, we will not be able to consider your participation into any of our tournaments.
Furthermore, all referees will need to sign a statementof acceptance of current or future (at the time of signing), coronavirus restrictions, requisites and policies. Such statement will be sent via email to all referees, upon acceptance of their application. Failure to sign the statement/waiver will result in cancellation of your participation.
We thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation on this issue, and we look forward to seeing you soon at one of our tournaments.
Should you have any questions regarding our coronavirus safe policy, feel free to send us an email to info@refereeabroad.com