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Futsal
Futsal refs
put through their paces
(FIFA.com) 1
Aug 2003

The FIFA Futsal
Committee has agreed upon a set of physical performance tests for
the game’s officials following their latest meeting on 18 October
2002. The decision was enthusiastically approved following
recommendations from both the FIFA Sports Medical Committee and the
recently formed FIFA Referees’ Committee. The steps represent
further indication of futsal’s acceptance as a legitimate sporting
force in its own right.
For years, FIFA football referees have been put
through their paces with a rigid and demanding set of physical
tests. Now futsal’s men in black are fast falling in line with the
harsh demands of modern athletics. In addition to improving the
refereeing landscape as a whole, the new futsal fitness tests focus
on the specific demands of the lightning-quick indoor game.
A series of tests to set the standard
The comprehensive test consists of four distinct sections with one
clear goal: to prepare the officials for the rigours of the
five-a-side game, growing more and more popular on Planet Football
with each passing day.
The tests, as well as the methods by which they
are applied, will become the universal standard for the official
physical evaluation of futsal referees in each of FIFA’s national
associations. They will also become the standard to be applied prior
to all official competitions like the FIFA Futsal World Championship
Chinese Taipei 2004.
The battery of tests begins with a 1km endurance
run. The first section must be completed within four minutes and ten
seconds. Next, after a 15-minute rest, comes a shuttle-run, back and
forth, between two set points ten metres apart. The referee must
complete the exercise within 11 seconds.
Following a short five-minute rest, the official
is required to complete a zig-zag course, running forwards,
backwards and sideways in under 42 seconds between a carefully
placed maze of cones, followed by another five-minute break. Then
the ten-metre shuttle run and the zig-zag runs are repeated with a
short five-minute break in between.
This Physical Fitness Test will act to form the
basis for all future physical fitness tests for futsal referees
carried out by national associations. It will also be a mandatory
exercise for all referees included on the FIFA List of Referees in
2004.
"We are going to work
to improve the standard of refereeing. That is the challenge we
face, and that is what I intend to do," said FIFA’s recently
appointed head of refereeing José María Garcia-Aranda.
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