CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Football Association (CFA) has been tasked by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) to recruit young referees as the latter wants to produce more Filipinos who could officiate in FIFA- sanctioned matches.
“The CFA was given the mission to develop referees who are 25 years old and younger during the referees' course held in Naga City,” said Francis Ramirez, who was sent by CFA along Vincent Ramos during the event held last September 14-18.
“It was Montano Mondia III, the PFF Head of the Referee’s Department, who gave CFA the new mission,” added Ramirez.
Currently, CFA has a pool of young referees who can be developed to become good officials in the future.
Ramirez said the CFA was given such task because Cebu has the most number of tournaments outside of Manila and is strategically located in the Vis-Min region.
“There are other referees from nearby provinces who would come to Cebu to officiate,” he added.
Ramirez said the pool of refs in Cebu will be sent to Manila for training and those who will be picked for the elite team will be sent to Malaysia for further training.
Cebu has produced an assistant referee in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Randy Estremos, who held the position in FIFA-sanctioned matches for 10 years. He is now based in Macau.— King Cortel, Correspondent (FREEMAN)