A referee In Spain you can earn up to 300,000 euros a year. An Englishman earns more than 80,000, almost four times less. ‘Premier referees’ are looking for extra pay during the week United Arab Emirates. And a controversy from last week opened the debate. Is it compatible? Arab interests may overlap in the competition.
The day before Tottenham Hotspur-Liverpool, Darren England and Dan Cook, who had to direct VAR for that match, will return by plane from the United Arab Emirates. There they are refereeing the match between Sharjah and Al-Ain on Thursday, meaning two days before they travel to Stockley Park, in London, to oversee the most important match of the day. What happened in that cabin outside London is now Premier League history.
It is impossible to attribute the 100% error to possible fatigue caused by England and Cook, who had been on a flight from the Middle East 48 hours earlier, but it opens a debate in England about whether these “freelance” jobs are should or shouldn’t. regularized.by referees.
In this context, it should be understood that English referees are not the biggest earners in Europe, on the contrary. Spanish Mateu Lahoz earned more than 300,000 euros in 2022, while a Premier referee earns between 38,500 pounds and 42,000 pounds per year – this varies depending on experience -, plus an additional 1,150 pounds per match. The maximum will not exceed 70,000 pounds -80,771 euros-.
Leagues such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia play here, especially the latter, given the success it has had in recruiting footballers, now also wants to have the best referees.
The problem? Not only the fatigue, but also the implications that England, Cook and Michael Oliver, one of the most recognized, among others, decided to go to these countries to make money. Because Sheikh Mansour, prime minister of the UAE, is the owner of Manchester City, in addition to Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, president of the City, who is on the board of shareholders of the UAE oil company, which, surprisingly, is the main sponsor of the country’s league.
Too many links to Saudi Arabia
The links continue to Saudi Arabia, where Howard Webb, the main PGMOL leader, worked for the Saudi federation for several years. Webb, who refereed the final between Spain and Holland in the 2010 World Cup, allowed Michael Oliver to officiate, for example, the rivalry between Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal in April, in addition to opening the door for English refereeing in Greece. . Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the Premier League does not end there, as PIF, Saudi Arabia’s investment fund, owns Newcastle United.
This opens up a number of integrity issues when receiving payments from countries with links to Premier League teams, which PGMOL and the Premier League have to deal with and are already concerned about. By releasing the audio of the disallowed goal against Luis Díaz, PGMOL assured that it is working with the FA to review its policy on allowing referees to work outside FIFA or UEFA dates.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
