Referee Training

Why Referee?
The referee’s job is to be the official in charge of the game. Games cannot happen without a referee who's role is to keep the game safe, fair and fun for everyone: the players, the coaches, the spectators, and themselves!

Become a New Referee!
1. Register as a volunteer in your account at www.ayso1631.org. You will then receive an email from a third-party vendor ([email protected]) asking you to complete a background check. Please follow the directions in that email.

2. In your account under volunteer, you should see your referee role with a button for AYSOU. Click this and the system will redirect you to eTrainU site. Click Training Library and select Safe Haven Courses. Complete the following free online courses: AYSO's Safe Haven-Online, CDC Concussion Awareness-Online and Sudden Cardiac Arrest-Online.

3. As part of California law, referees are required to complete SafeSports training. Some of this is redundant to our Safe Haven training and AYSO national is reviewing this. Until this time, please complete this course to keep our region compliant with California law requirements. To access this training from your Volunteer page, select the down arrow on the top of the page that states "Important information from AYSO". There will be a link to access this training and automatically update your AYSO profile once completed.

4. For 8U referees: In the Training Library, select Refereeing and complete the course 8U Official Course-Online. This course is only offered online in our region. If you prefer to take this course in-person, select the course 8U Official-Full InPerson Course and follow the instructions to search for in person classes near you.

For 10U and above: In the Training Library, select Refereeing and complete the course Regional Referee Online & InPerson Companion Course (2 Part Bundle). When the online course is completed, contact [email protected] to schedule an in person mentoring session. If you prefer to take this course in person, select the course Regional Referee-Full InPerson Course and follow the instructions to search for in person classes near you.

5. As part of California Law, all referees also need to get fingerprinted as part of our safety protocol for working with children. Fingerprinting as part of other school and church requirements is not accepted and must be from an official AYSO vendor. Contact [email protected] for details on how to get this completed.

6. Email [email protected] once these steps are complete. Our Regional Referee Administrator will provide you with a referee uniform, equipment, and an account for Arbiter Sports (refereeing application for self-assigning games and entering scores). You will be paired with an experienced referee to start, so you can ask questions and get comfortable refereeing games.

For Returning Referees

Re-register each season as a volunteer at www.ayso1631.org.
In your account, go to Volunteer and you should see all your certifications. If any of these note "Expired" please retake these courses. Base courses such as Safe Haven, Concussion and Sudden Cardiac Arrest training are valid for 3 years. Referee training never expires, but we encourage you to upgrade your training from Regional to Intermediate to Advanced and then National. When you upgrade, you are able to start to referee older divisions and it makes you eligible for opportunities to referee sectional and national title games within AYSO.
If the Risk Status is expired on the Volunteer page, check the box next to this and select Save&Renew at the bottom of the page. This will initiate and updated background check. This needs to updated each year between Aug1 and July31 of the following year.
If you need to retake any courses, select the AYSOU tab within the Volunteer page and you will be redirected to eTrainU to find online courses and to register for inPerson classes.
Questions? Contact [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get training to be a referee?
Yes. AYSO provides all training, equipment and support to become a referee.

What if I've never played or refereed soccer before?
Most new AYSO volunteers have never played or refereed before. We provide everything you need to start refereeing, including a mentor to ask questions and work on your first games together!

Do I need to referee every weekend?
No. You decide what games and what weekends to volunteer. Ideally, referees will try to referee 2 games on the weekends they are available.

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