Become a Referee

To become a referee you need to be at least 14 years of age to referee in the State of Alabama.

Exception: If turning 14 before February 1 of the following year, you may still register (after August 1 of the current year) for an entry level course and become certified, but you will not be able to referee until you turn 14 .

New Referee Training

Clinics are held throughout the year starting from August 1 of the current year and continuing until Feb 28 of the following year. The Initial Entry Course has two parts, training done online and the rest spent in an in-person field session in designated cities across the state.

Requirements

Age Limit	14 years or older
Enrollment	Check out the New Referee Clinics in your area
Training	2-3 hours online and attendance at a 2 hour field session
Safety and Compliance	SafeSport Trained, Safe Soccer Training and Background Check (18 yrs and older)
Online Module	50 question quiz of the Laws of the Game
Cost	17 years old and below: $100, 18+: $130 (Background check is $30)

Steps to become a Referee

You must create your profile on the US Soccer Learning Center website located here.

Parents may not use their lone email address to register multiple referees. Each referee needs their own email address. Parents may add a secondary email address to each account in order to receive any emails their child is receiving from either U.S. Soccer or the Alabama State Referee Committee.

If you are having issues with your account, please contact referee@ussoccer.org.

You must complete the NCSI Background check if you are 18 years old and older before you can register for a course. If you are 17 years old or younger, go to step 3.

Available inside the Learning Center under Available Courses -> Supplemental Courses-Background Screening
Valid for 2 years.
Cost of the background check is $30 once every 2 years
Background check must be completed to obtain certification.
- Background check process may take up to 10 days. Average is 5 days.

After completing the background check (if required), you will be able to sign up for a first-time referee class. The classes are through out the state. Find one in your local area by visiting the new referee clinics.

Go to the US Soccer Learning Center and go to courses for the first-time referees. Set the host to Alabama State Referee Committee. Find the course and sign up for it. You must complete the online coursework modules before attending the field session.

What to wear and bring: Bring athletic wear for light, outdoor exercise. With you, bring a whistle, yellow and red cards and a flag. These tools can be bought on Official Sports.

In-person entry level courses are typically held from July through February. Courses are not offered on or after March 1st. In order to allow sufficient time for completing online requirements, registration for all courses will close three days prior to the scheduled date of the course.

Every referee needs gear to officiate matches. You buy the gear from Official Sports, the official supplier of U.S. Soccer referee uniforms and equipment. The Alabama SRC recommends buying the short sleeve Yellow shirt first. You can buy a kit that includes the shorts, socks, flags and cards from either the Economy or Professional kits. We recommend buying the pro version since it more professional-looking and looks sharper. However it is $20 more but your very first match you will get that money back.

Remember, you will also need the other most-used color. So if you select the yellow jersey on the kit version, buy the green jersey as well. Vice-versa if you select the green jersey on the kit, buy the yellow jersey by itself.

For whistles, the popular brand is the Fox 40 whistle brand. We recommend buying the Fox 40 Whistle CMG or the Fox 40 Sonik Whistle. Remember, do not buy a pea whistle.

Your kit will provide you with your jersey (recommend either yellow and green), shorts, booklet, writing pad, socks, shorts, flags and patch holder. Bring your pen and your Fox 40 whistle and you will be good to go! The patch holder is used to stick on your USSF Referee License to attach/remove from your uniform as it is Velcro.

So, you have your equipment, your badge and you are ready to receive games! Fantastic. You will receive an account to sign up to Assignr shortly after the field session.

Assignr is our assigning platform where you will receive games to officiate on behalf of the Alabama State Referee Committee.

You should download the mobile app (iOS or Android) to better see the schedule, You will also be able to accept or decline matches straight from your phone. Search on your platform’s page or visit this page.

Please familiarize yourself with how to set your availability by visiting this page. Remember: you need to set your dates to AVAILABLE because the default is UNAVAILABLE. Most of the games you will do will be on the weekends, however there might be games during the weekday. Figure out what works for you and work with your assignor.

To finalize this section, familiarize yourself with how to accept or decline a game by visiting this page. Remember, accept or decline as soon as you can. Games will auto-decline after 48 hours.

Your field instructor will most likely give your names to local assignors who can start giving you games right away. Please read more about receiving games to set yourself up for success.