The Other Match Officials

Appointments and shared duties

Appointments may include two assistants, a fourth official, two additional assistants, a reserve assistant, a VAR and at least one AVAR. All work under the referee; the referee can remove an official for improper conduct or undue interference and report it.

On-field officials help inspect the pitch, balls and equipment, keep records and report offences they see more clearly. Serious unseen incidents require a report, with the other officials informed. Competition rules must identify replacements for officials unable to start or continue, particularly who takes over as referee.

1. Assistant referees

Assistants indicate the ball fully leaving the pitch and the appropriate throw-in, corner or goal kick; punishable offside; and substitution requests. At penalties they monitor goalkeeper movement from the line and whether the ball crosses it. When additional assistants are appointed, the assistant stands level with the penalty mark.

They also monitor substitutions and may enter the pitch to help enforce the 9.15 m (10 yd) distance.

2. Fourth official

The fourth official supervises substitutions, checks equipment, manages authorised re-entry and replacement balls, indicates the referee’s minimum added time for each half including extra time, and reports irresponsible conduct in the technical area.

3. Additional assistant referees

They may indicate the ball fully crossing the goal line, including goals; corner or goal-kick entitlement; and, at penalties, goalkeeper movement off the line and whether the ball crosses it.

4. Reserve assistant referee

The reserve may replace an assistant, fourth official or additional assistant unable to continue, and may otherwise support the referee like other on-field officials.

5. Video match officials

The VAR uses replay footage for clear and obvious errors or serious missed incidents involving goals, penalties, red cards including a clearly incorrect second caution, or mistaken identity. See Law 5 and the VAR protocol for the full scope and competition options.

The AVAR watches while the VAR checks or reviews, records incidents and technical/communication problems, assists communication including requests to delay a restart or stop play, records review-related lost time and shares decision information with relevant parties.

6. Assistant referee signals

For substitution, the assistant holds the flag horizontally above the head. For a foul, raise and wave the flag, then indicate the restart direction. Throw-ins use an angled flag in the direction of the throw; corners use a flag angled down towards the corner area, and goal kicks a horizontal flag towards the goal area. For offside, first raise the flag vertically; after the referee stops play, lower it towards the relevant part of the pitch: downwards for near-side, horizontally for the middle, and upwards for far-side.

7. Additional assistant signals

When a goal has been scored but the ball crossing the line is not obvious, the additional assistant extends an arm horizontally into the field, perpendicular to the goal line, pointing towards the centre of the field.