Football Victoria is excited to announce experienced FIFA referee Michael Fabian as Referee Development Manager.
Fabian, from Hungary, was a referee for more than 20 years with more than 100 international appointments to his name. Michael was also a prominent match official in the UEFA Champions League, including the Final in 2011 (FC Barcelona v Manchester United) and semi-finals in 2012 and 2013.
Fabian is already well known to the Victorian football community as a referee assessor and since April, FV Referee Operations & Education Coordinator, in addition, Fabian has been working for the past two seasons as FFA Elite Referee Coach, working with the full time FIFA referees.
The role of Referee Development Manager will be a key to improving standards across the board in Victoria and maintaining the referee talent pool.
"I will try to develop referee skills by sharing my experience as education," Fabian said.
"Both in the practical and theory parts of refereeing.
"The talent pool and referee academy need referees coming through, developing skills and taking further steps.
"I would like referees to have knowledge of laws of the game to perfection and apply them in the field of play properly, but also improve practical skills through each year.
"From the basic to the highest level there are lots of steps which every referee has to work through. Not everyone can be an W-League, A-League or FIFA referee, but everyone can find their own purpose and achieve goals in refereeing."
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