Azerbaijani referees to attend UEFA summer courses

Traditional UEFA summer courses for elite and first-category football referees will take place in Geneva from August 31 to September 2 ahead of the new season.

According to local media, Azerbaijan will be represented at the event by international referees Aliyar Aghayev and Elchin Masiyev.

The pre-season course will introduce participants to new instructions from the UEFA Referees Committee and assess their physical fitness. Some personnel changes will also be discussed.

English referee Anthony Taylor, French referee Benoît Bastien and Slovenian referee Slavko Vinčić, who had been among the referees in the elite category, have ended their refereeing careers.

For Omar Arten, who will attend the course for the first time, the event could mark the beginning of his international UEFA career.

UEFA organises two main training and development courses for Europe's leading referees each season, one in summer and another in winter.

By Aghakazim Guliyev