In time with Nestle Cup International Women's Club Championship 2014, the training session ran for FIFA women’s referees from 29 November to 1 December in Mimasaka, Okayama.
As Ms. Krystyna Szokolai was invited from the FIFA, the lesson turned out to be just like the FIFA’s referee training.

At the beginning of the session, the instructor sent a strong message to participants, saying “Referees also need to be competitive. Not everyone can get to the World Cup, but everyone needs to target for it. Japan is the World Cup champions. The coach and players are at the top of the world. Referees also need to be the No.1!”

On the first day, the FIFA’s standards were explained using footage from the events hosted by the FIFA. The participants were asked to make calls and provide the reason for each one of them in match footage between overseas teams, not Nadeshiko League matches where they usually officiate. The instructor showed the footage that included close calls and then helped the participating referees come up with the right answers by occasionally giving them precise clues.

Ms. Szokolai said that the proper role-sharing and cooperation between a referee and assistant referees are the most important things when it comes to make a right call at any occasion.
During the discussion, all the referees spoke out and senior referees gave advice to young referees based on their experience.
The lesson consisted of contents that simulated international matches, so for referees who have never worked for the FIFA events, it must have been strong stimulation.

Instructor Comment

Ms. Krystyna SZOKOLAI, FIFA Instructor (Australia)
Firstly, I must congratulate the JFA on initiating such a great tournament. What a fantastic opportunity for your top women match officials! It is quite a unique and fortunate experience for them, as it is a rare level between national and full international football. It was an honour for me to be invited to this tournament and to be able to give a short seminar to the match officials before the tournament. I also watched some matches, and then gave detailed feedback to the match officials about how to improve their performances. This consisted of showing clips from their matches, and discussing what they did well, where they could improve, and how to improve.

It is vital that these kinds of investments in women's refereeing are made, as Japan has one of the best leagues in the world - therefore they must also have the best match officials in the world. It cannot be that the teams are more developed than the match officials. With JFA's continued commitment to women's football, Japan will continue to be a dominant force in the women's game, and our aim should be that Japan's women match officials receive the same opportunities for their development.

Participants Comments

YAMASHITA Yoshimi, Class 1 Women’s Referee (Tokyo)
During the three-day training, I got detailed advice from the overseas instructor using the match footage that we always get prepared to be at the better position for the next play and use clear gestures for players and spectators. And I could learn my habits and patterns by continuously watching clipped footage from the match I worked for.  Other than matches and training lessons, I could learn lots of things by staying and eating with other referees. And the lesson was held in English, so it was very concentrated training.  I will continue to look back and analyse my work to lead the learning to the better refereeing.

TESHIROGI Naomi, Class 1 Referee / FIFA Women’s Referee (Hokkaido)
We had a referee training by a FIFA instructor invited from overseas.  We had group discussions using video footage of U-17 and U-20 Women’s World Cup and learned not only the decision itself but also the need for detailed rationale why you make such a decision, for what reason you judge. This method is accorded with the AFC and FIFA, so it’s good to have a training session using the same method in Japan. The match analysis was very detailed as only a few matches were used for the lesson. Because the topic of the lesson was to improve and enhance our skill, the purpose was clear and her explanation was easy to understand.

I felt we are in quite a good environment where we can take the same lesson in Japan as the AFC and the FIFA. I hope this kind of training sessions will continue in the future as well.