September 27 – The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) has renewed its referee exchange agreement with Croatia and Denmark for the 2023-2024 football season.
The move to bring in independent referees from other nations followed a series of intimidatory threats against local referees. The move has led to a greater trust in the sporting integrity of the local league.
The signing of the agreements took place at the UEFA Executive Committee session in Limassol with CFA President Giorgos Koumas, Danish Federation president Jesper Moller Christensen and Croatian Federation Vice-President Slavko Prišćan signatories with the chair of Croatia’s Referee Committee Bruno Maric.
UEFA Vice-President, Karl-Erik Nilsson, and UEFA’s Head of Football, former Croatian international footballer Zvonimir Boban, as well as the president of the CFA Refereeing Committee, Domenico Messina, were also present.
“When I came up with this idea of exchanging referees, I had the hope that it would be for the benefit, first of all, of Croatian refereeing, and consequently of Croatian football. I consider the fact that UEFA got behind this project this year a great flywheel for the further development of Croatian refereeing and a great stage for our referees, who are now engaged in European matches three times more than before,” said Marić.Michael Johansen, chairman of the DBU’s referee committee, was happy about the continued Cyprus cooperation.
“Our Danish FIFA referees had good matches and learned from their assignments in Cyprus in the spring. Therefore, it is gratifying that we can continue the cooperation and development of our top international judges with this agreement,” said Johansen.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1729223509labto1729223509ofdlr1729223509owedi1729223509sni@o1729223509fni1729223509