Referee (association Football) - Powers and Duties

Powers and Duties

The referee's powers and duties are described by Law 5 of the Laws of the Game. These include:

Powers

  • stopping, suspending or terminating the match at his discretion, for any infringements of the Laws;
  • stopping, suspending or terminating the match because of outside interference of any kind;
  • stopping the match if, in his opinion, a player is seriously injured and ensuring that he is removed from the field of play. An injured player may only return to the field of play after the match has restarted;
  • allowing play to continue until the ball is out of play if a player is, in his opinion, only slightly injured;
  • allowing play to continue when the team against which an offence has been committed will benefit from such an advantage and penalises the original offence if the anticipated advantage does not ensue at that time;
  • taking disciplinary action against players guilty of cautionable and sending-off offences. He is not obliged to take this action immediately but must do so when the ball next goes out of play;
  • taking action against team officials who fail to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and may, at his discretion, expel them from the field of play and its immediate surrounds.

Duties

  • enforcing the Laws of the Game;
  • controlling the match in co-operation with the assistant referees and, where applicable, with the fourth official;
  • ensuring that any ball used meets the requirements of Law 2;
  • ensuring that the players' equipment meets the requirements of Law 4;
  • acting as timekeeper and keeping a record of the match;
  • ensuring that any player bleeding from a wound leaves the field of play. The player may only return on receiving a signal from the referee, who must be satisfied that the bleeding has stopped;
  • punishing the more serious offence when a player commits more than one offence at the same time;
  • acting on the advice of the assistant referees regarding incidents that he has not seen;
  • ensuring that no unauthorised persons enter the field of play;
  • indicating the restart of the match after it has been stopped;
  • providing the appropriate authorities with a match report, which includes information on any disciplinary action taken against players and/or team officials, substitutions and any other incidents that occurred before, during or after the match.

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