Terms & Conditions

By applying to any of our tournaments as a referee, observer, staff member or academy candidate; you accept and agree to the following Terms and Conditions. Please note, you can withdraw your acceptance at anytime, but this will result in your application being cancelled. Thanks for your understanding.

1. Applications

Applicants can apply for any tournament and/or experience on our list. Each person can apply for an unlimited number of tournaments, apart from those taking place during the same week. Applying does not guarantee acceptance into the tournament. The applicant should wait to receive an official notification from Referee Abroad before finalising any plans. Referee Abroad does not guarantee acceptance into any specific tournament, nor accepts any responsibility or liability should an applicant finalise his travel plans ahead of receiving confirmation from our side. 

2. Confirmation

Once a referee receives a confirmation e-mail, their registration and acceptance at the tournament is momentarily confirmed. In order to make this confirmation official the referee will need to complete the tasks described inpoint 3) in these T&Cs. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of participation. Referee Abroad will not accept any responsibility nor liability connected to travel plans finalised ahead of receiving final confirmation of participation.

3. Finalising Participation

In order to finalise participation at a specific tournament and/or experience, referees will need to pay the tournament’s participation fee specified on each tournament’s page. Payment of the fee is due at latest 3 months before the tournament starts. Failure to pay the participation fee will result in your participation being cancelled.  Fees are to be paid in € (Euros). The inscription fee is non-refundable under any circumstances. Payment in any other currency, apart from £ (pounds sterling), will need to be approved by Referee Abroad before proceeding, and if approved will have to be done by using the exchange rate of the day as shown on this website (http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/).

Once the inscription fee has been paid, referees will have to notify Referee Abroad that the action has been completed, after which travel can be booked by the referee. Travel must be booked at latest 2 months before the tournament starts and the official booking confirmation, removing any personal details, will have to be forwarded to Referee Abroad. Failure to do so will result in participation being cancelled. Observers, coaches and staff are not subject to the payment of an inscription fee and, once confirmed by Referee Abroad, are only required to respect this point of T&C for the section concerning travel details. Travel expenses are always paid by the participant; Referee Abroad will not cover the travel costs of any participant, nor will reimburse them. The inscription fee is not reimbursable.

4. Accommodation

Accommodation options are offered to all accepted applicants by the tournament, Referee Abroad is not responsible for accommodation but will act as a liaison between the applicants and the tournament’s organisation to guarantee standards are guaranteed. Referee Abroad is not responsible for any problem concerning accommodation but will do its best to help applicants solve them, should they arise. For tournaments where accommodation is not free, Referee Abroad will guarantee hotels at subsidised rates, at the applicant’s expense. Prices will be communicated to the applicant upon final confirmation of their participation. The applicant should then immediately communicate any preferences in terms of accommodation. Should an applicant opt for one of the paid options, payment will have to be made at latest 2 months before the tournament start date, directly to Referee Abroad. Any payment not received by this date will result in the cancellation of the hotel booking and participation at the tournament. Preferences can be amended free of charge up until 2months before the tournament’s start. The currency for payments is € (Euros). Payment in any other currency, apart from £ (pounds sterling), will need to be approved by Referee Abroad before proceeding, and if approved will have to be done by using the exchange rate of the day as shown on this website (http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/)

5. Conduct

All participants at any given tournament are bound to respect local laws and customs, behaving in a respectful manner towards fellow participants, staff, the organisation, the public  and locals in generale. Should a participant break any rule or law, or behave in a manner not considered respectful, appropriate penalties will be inflicted by the tournament’s organisational staff and Referee Abroad, the most serious being immediate exclusion from the tournament and any future Referee Abroad event. Any participant who conducts themselves in a way which is perceived as discriminatory or breaks any laws will be immediately excluded from the event and conduct notified to the relevant authorities in the tournament’s country and the referee’s home country. In the more serious cases, Referee Abroad reserves the rights to seek compensation for damages to its image.

6. Permission to Participate

Referee Abroad assumes that every applicant is authorised to take part at the tournament/s, such authorisation deriving from their home football association. It is the responsibility of each participant to seek such authorisation. Referee Abroad also assumes that each participant’s child protection certificate is valid and up-to-date, where applicable. It is theresponsibility of each participant to make sure the above points are carried out to completion. Should Referee Abroad come to learn that any participation has not completed one or both of these conditions, where applicable, it reserves the right to exclude the participant from its event/s even without prior notice. 

7. Arrivals & Departures

Arrival and departure dates are listed on the Referee Abroad website, on each specific tournament page. They shall be respected by each participant. Arrivals or departures outside of such dates need to be authorised by the tournament via Referee Abroad. Referees should seek permission by contacting Referee Abroad and awaiting confirmation.Should a referee book travel outside of the dates without having been granted prior permission to do, Referee Abroad will not accept any resulting financial liability, nor will provide accommodation/board/assistance during those dates.

8. Minors

Participants who are minors, as defined by local laws, need to be accompanied by a parent, guardian or responsible adult. Referee Abroad will not accept any responsibility over the minor during the event/s. Should the minor not have an accompanying person before the tournament starts, their participation is subject to cancellation, even at short notice, unless a proper waiver is signed by the guardians/parents. Referee Abroad will not accept any liability resulting from this action. 

9. Insurance

Referee Abroad does not provide any insurance covering participants at its events. Should a participant be a EU citizen, they should carry their European Health Insurance card when travelling to a tournament in Europe. Referee Abroad provides this information solely as a recommendation, and plays no role in the emission, use or coverage for such card. For participants who are not EU citizens or tournaments outside of the European Union, Referee Abroad recommends that each participant takes out appropriate travel and health insurance. Referee Abroad will not accept any liability resulting from injuries, accidents, health issues or other problems or happenings of any kind.

10. Visas and Travel Authorisation

Some countries may require all or some participants to be in possession of an appropriate visa and/or travel authorisation in order to visit. It is the responsibility of each participant to make sure their travel documents are valid for travel. Referee Abroad will not accept any responsibility resulting from failure to do so. Referee Abroad will provide assistance in applying for a visa, upon request of a participant, when possible.

11. Payments

For tournaments where referees are to receive a financial reimbursement from the tournament, Referee Abroad will pool together all earnings and divide it equally among all participants, regardless of the number of games each participant has done. This is done to guarantee that each participant is treated equally.

12. Staff on site

For tournaments where a sizeable group of Referee Abroad referees will participate, Referee Abroad will guarantee the presence of at least one staff member to assist participants during the event (contact person).

13. Use of personal data

Referee Abroad will make use of personal data in accordance with the most recent norms (GDPR and EU regulations). Please refer to this page for details. 

14. Tournament-specific T&Cs

Some tournaments may have additional specific T&Cs. In such cases, these will be sent to the referees upon confirmation for them to read and accept. 

15. Force majeure

Cancellation of the Tournament and Force Majeure:
In the event that the tournament cannot be held or is postponed due to events beyond the control of the tournament organizers (force majeure) or due to events which are not attributable to wrongful intent or gross negligence of the tournament organizers, the tournament organisers nor Referee Abroad can be held liable by delegates for any damages, costs or losses incurred, such as transportation costs, accommodation costs, or costs for any additional orders.
Under these circumstances, the tournament organisers and/or Referee Abroad reserve the right to either retain the entire registration/accommodation fee and to use it for a future tournament, or to reimburse the delegate after deducting costs already incurred for the organization of the tournament and which could not be recovered from third parties.
Referee Abroad is not responsible for any economic injuries or losses that may arise in the event of war, war, civil war, revolution or civil unrest or for the actions of the authorities, strikes, blockades, natural disasters, disputes with transport, kidnappings, accidents in the Army and Navy, orders of public institutional departments in Portugal and foreign countries, epidemics, attributable to causes of force majeure with quarantine, customs regulations or problems with public immigration, fires, traffic accidents, illnesses, thefts, fraud, violence, heterosexual relationships or similar events, before, during and after the tournament. These issues will be resolved under the responsibility of the teams or groups and is not the responsibility of Referee Abroad or the local organization.”

Should a cancellation happen due to covid-19, Referee Abroad is committed to offering you maximum flexibility – you’ll be able to use the entire value towards any other tournament up until and including 2022.

*The above information is indicative and subject to change with no advanced notice. Please check with staff in case of any queries.