How Do I Get to be a Referee?

How do I Become A Referee??

Because we’re affiliated with the United State Soccer Federation (“USSF”), we’re required to use USSF certified referees to officiate our games. In addition, it’s a standard provision of our liability insurance coverage that we’ll use properly trained and certified referees.  Certification of referees by USSF is done at the local level by the State Referee Committee (“SRC”).  

How to become a referee the first time

If you are an adult, meaning 18 or older, there are several steps you’ll need to complete to become a certified referee. Be aware that USSF has now set a minimum age of 13 to become a certified referee.  Also, every referee must have a unique email address.  That means parent and child cannot use the same email address if each intend to be a referee.  There is the opportunity in setting up the profile to have a secondary email address.  Have the child be the primary email address and the parent be the secondary email address and both will receive email.

Click here and you'll be taken to the NM Soccer Referee Association website. Scroll down a little and click the link that says Become A Soccer Referee and follow those instructions.  If you're an adult, you'll need to complete and background check and complete the Safe Sport training program before you can proceed to the actual referee instruction online course.  If you've been a referee before and want to join up again, go to that NMSRA site and click the link to recertify and you can get information on what that requires.

What do I do once I'm a certified referee?

Once you are certified, you go here and complete our brief referee contract so we can get some basic information and clarify that you're an independent contract, not a league employee.  

ASL uses a web-based self-scheduling system to enable you to schedule your game assignments around your own team’s schedule. Jack Houston is our referee scheduler and he'll get you set up on our scheduling system when we receive your contract.

There’s no reason to spend a lot of money on referee uniforms and 6 different colored long and short sleeve shirts until you’ve decided you like this refereeing thing, and a lot of people discover they don’t like being yelled at.  If you're going to do youth soccer games as well as adults, NM Youth Soccer Association has a uniform reimbursement program you can explore here.

In this Referee Information section, you’ll find a document called ASL Referee Procedures. That’s where you get all the details about what we expect in you officiating games and what we pay for your efforts.

Sponsors

Albuquerque Sol

Affiliates

New Mexico State Soccer Association

United State Adult Soccer Association

United States Soccer Federation