Uefa has told teams participating at the Euro 2024 that only captains will be allowed to approach referees to speak about decisions taken during the match and other players are prohibited and in doing so they risk being booked.
The move by European football’s governing body is to try to stop groups of players “mobbing” referees in scenes which are “bad for the image of football”.
“In a bid to improve the status quo we at Uefa want referees to explain more of their decisions to all teams competing at the upcoming Uefa Euro 2024 tournament,” said Roberto Rosetti, Uefa’s managing director of refereeing.
“How will we do this? The idea is simple: we ask that all teams ensure their captain is the only player who speaks to the referee.
“We ask the captains to ensure their team-mates do not encroach upon and surround the referee, allowing direct conversations to take place in order that the decision be relayed in a timely and respectful manner.”
Uefa’s initiative follows football’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), announcing trials earlier this year which included only a team’s captain being able to approach a referee in certain situations.
Euro 2024 takes place in Germany, who will get the competition started with a game against Scotland on Friday, 14 June.
The UEFA Referees’ Committee announced 18 referees, their referee assistant teams, and the video match officials and support match officials, who will be in charge of the 51 matches at UEFA EURO 2024.
Referee teams for UEFA EURO 2024
Artur Soares Dias (Portugal)
Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
Marco Guida (Italy)
Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia)
François Letexier (France)
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Halil Umut Meler (Türkiye)
Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Michael Oliver (England)
Daniele Orsato (Italy)
Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Anthony Taylor (England)
Clément Turpin (France)
Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)
Felix Zwayer (Germany)
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