Professional Referee Organization

Last updated

Professional Referee Organization
FoundedNovember 2012;12 years ago (2012-11)
Headquarters420 Fifth Avenue
7th Floor
New York, NY 10018 [1]
Area served
 United States and Canada
Key people
Website www.proreferees.com

Professional Referee Organization (PRO) is the organization responsible for managing the referee and assistant referee program in professional soccer leagues in the United States and Canada, working alongside the United States Soccer Federation, Major League Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association, the United Soccer League, the National Women's Soccer League, and the U.S. Open Cup.

Contents

The organization's targets are to increase the quality of officiating in U.S. and Canadian professional leagues, develop more professional-quality officials at a younger age, and produce officials who will represent the United States and Canada in FIFA competitions. [3] The referees employed by PRO are represented by the PSRA. [4]

History

The U.S. Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer joined forces in 2012 to create the Professional Referee Organization and the aims for PRO is to develop a higher standard of officiating at a younger age and to produce referees who can represent the United States and Canada in FIFA competitions.

Then U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said, "We've always understood that the development of referees is an important aspect to the growth of the game in the United States. PRO is another step toward the improvement and professionalization of our top referees. With the additional resources and funding provided by the formation of PRO, we will continue to build upon the progress we've already made." [5]

Staff

EmployeeTitle [6]
Mark Geiger General Manager
Nick PrimaveraChief Operating Officer
John LoderDirector of Finance and Accounting
Joe Fletcher Chief Refereeing Officer
Sarah BettisonManager of Human Resources and Planning
Yolanda SamuelExecutive Assistant
Dax AlmazanManager of Payroll and Accounting
Sandro Ricci Director of Senior Match Officials
Frank AndersonManager of Senior Assistant Referees
Greg BarkeyManager of Video Review
Alan BlackDirector of Technical Programs
Alex PrusDirector of PRO2 Match Officials
Mark KadlecikPRO2 Referee Coach
Erich SimmonsPRO2 Referee Coach
Tom BeckvermitDirector of Sports Performance
Lisa StalansHead of Sports Medicine
John WestbrooksHead Sports Performance Coach
Nicole WardDirector of Operations
Amy EdwardsManager of Tactical and Video Analysis
Leisha Alcia Operations Coordinator
Diane JohnsonManager of Travel

Major League Soccer awards

Season [7] RefereeAssistant Referee
2012 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Silviu Petrescu Flag of the United States.svg Ian Anderson
2013 Flag of the United States.svg Hilario Grajeda Flag of the United States.svg Kermit Quisenberry
2014 Flag of the United States.svg Mark Geiger Flag of the United States.svg Paul Scott
2015 Flag of Ireland.svg Alan Kelly Flag of the United States.svg Corey Parker
2016 Flag of the United States.svg Frank Anderson
2017 Flag of the United States.svg Allen Chapman Flag of the United States.svg Corey Parker
2018 Flag of Ireland.svg Alan Kelly Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Joe Fletcher
2019 Flag of the United States.svg Allen Chapman Flag of the United States.svg Brian Dunn
2020 Flag of the United States.svg Ismail Elfath Flag of the United States.svg Kathryn Nesbitt
2021 Flag of Poland.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Robert Sibiga Flag of the United States.svg Cory Richardson
2022 Flag of the United States.svg Ismail Elfath Flag of the United States.svg Corey Rockwell
2023 Flag of the United States.svg Victor Rivas Flag of the United States.svg Ian McKay
2024 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Drew Fischer Flag of the United States.svg Kyle Atkins

USL Championship awards

Season [8] RefereeAssistant Referee
2019 Flag of the United States.svg Guido Gonzales Jr. Flag of the United States.svg Ian McKay
2020 Flag of the United States.svg Elton Garcia Flag of the United States.svg Diego Blas
2021 Flag of the United States.svg Matt Thompson Flag of the United States.svg Mike Nickerson
2022 Flag of the United States.svg Mark Allatin Flag of the United States.svg Kali Smith
2023 Flag of the United States.svg Calin Radosav Flag of France.svg Christian Clerc

Roster

Ahead of the 2025 Major League Soccer season, these match officials were listed on the PRO rosters.

Referees

Source: [9]

Assistant referees

Source: [10]

  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Lyes Arfa
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kyle Atkins
  • Flag of the United States.svg Nick Balcer
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Micheal Barwegen
  • Flag of the United States.svg Andrew Bigelow
  • Flag of the United States.svg Cameron Blanchard
  • Flag of the United States.svg Diego Blas
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Chantal Boudreau
  • Flag of the United States.svg Logan Brown
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jose da Silva
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brian Dunn
  • Flag of the United States.svg Chris Elliott
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gianni Facchini
  • Flag of the United States.svg Adam Garner
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ryan Graves
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeffrey Greeson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeremy Hanson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Walt Heatherly
  • Flag of the United States.svg Justin Howard
  • Flag of the United States.svg Eduardo Jeff
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gérard Kader-Lebuis
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeremy Kieso
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kevin Klinger
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kevin Lock
  • Flag of the United States.svg Felisha Mariscal
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brooke Mayo
  • Flag of the United States.svg Stephen McGonagle
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ian McKay
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
  • Flag of the United States.svg Meghan Mullen
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matt Nelson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kathryn Nesbitt
  • Flag of the United States.svg Mike Nickerson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Corey Parker
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ben Pilgrim
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brian Poeschel
  • Flag of the United States.svg Cory Richardson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Corey Rockwell
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kali Smith
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeffrey Swartzel
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Stefan Tanaka-Freundt
  • Flag of the United States.svg Nick Uranga
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Chris Wattam
  • Flag of the United States.svg Eric Weisbrod
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jason White
  • Flag of the United States.svg Adam Wienckowski
  • Flag of the United States.svg Tyler Wyrostek

Video assistant referees

Source: [11]

Assistant video assistant referees

Source: [12]

  • Flag of the United States.svg Claudiu Badea
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jozef Batko
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Johnson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Mike Kampmeinert
  • Flag of the United States.svg John Krill
  • Flag of the United States.svg Craig Lowry
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeffrey Muschik
  • Flag of the United States.svg Josh Patlak
  • Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Robert Schaap
  • Flag of the United States.svg Thomas Supple
  • Flag of the United States.svg Fabio Tovar
  • Flag of the United States.svg TJ Zablocki

International roster

As of January 2025, these PRO officials' were listed on the international roster: [13]

PRO2 Roster

As of January 2025, these PRO officials were listed on the PRO2 roster: [14]

Referees

Source: [14]

  • Flag of the United States.svg Elijio Arreguin
  • Flag of the United States.svg Luis Diego Arroyo
  • Flag of the United States.svg Nabil Bensalah
  • Flag of the United States.svg Alex Billeter
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kevin Broadley
  • Flag of Brazil.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Karen Callado [15]
  • Flag of Spain.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Cristian Campo Hernández [16]
  • Flag of the United States.svg Danielle Chesky
  • Flag of Ireland.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Matthew Corrigan [17]
  • Flag of the United States.svg Greg Dopka
  • Flag of the United States.svg Joshua Encarnacion
  • Flag of the United States.svg Gerald Flores
  • Flag of the United States.svg Elton Garcia
  • Flag of the United States.svg JC Griggs
  • Flag of the United States.svg Muhammad Hassan
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brad Jensen
  • Flag of the United States.svg Katja Koroleva
  • Flag of the United States.svg John Matto
  • Flag of the United States.svg Corbyn May
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jaclyn Metz
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ben Meyer
  • Flag of the United States.svg Adorae Monroy
  • Flag of Senegal.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Abdou Ndiaye
  • Flag of the United States.svg Alyssa Nichols
  • Flag of the United States.svg Elvis Osmanovic
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jamie Padilla
  • Flag of Ukraine.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Iryna Petrunok
  • Flag of the United States.svg Calin Radosav
  • Flag of the United States.svg Laura Rodriguez
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeremy Scheer
  • Flag of the United States.svg Natalie Simon
  • Flag of the United States.svg Thomas Snyder
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brandon Stevis
  • Flag of the United States.svg Eric Tattersall
  • Flag of the United States.svg Shawn Tehini
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matt Thompson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Trevor Wiseman
  • Flag of the United States.svg Anya Voigt
  • Flag of Turkey.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Atahan Yaya

Assistant referees

Source: [18]

  • Flag of the United States.svg Art Arustamyan
  • Flag of the United States.svg Darren Bandy
  • Flag of the United States.svg Seth Barton
  • Flag of the United States.svg Melissa Beck
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ethan Buege
  • Flag of the United States.svg Chris Canales
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jessica Carnevale
  • Flag of South Korea.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Zeno Cho
  • Flag of the United States.svg Clarence Clark
  • Flag of France.svg / Flag of the United States.svg Christian Clerc
  • Flag of the United States.svg Eric Del Rosario
  • Flag of the United States.svg Mateusz Dulski
  • Flag of the United States.svg Tom Felice
  • Flag of the United States.svg Fernando Fierro
  • Flag of the United States.svg Chana Forstall
  • Flag of the United States.svg Sarah Gaddes
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jennifer Garner
  • Flag of the United States.svg Sharon Gingrich
  • Flag of the United States.svg Melissa Gonzalez
  • Flag of the United States.svg Rhett Hammil
  • Flag of the United States.svg Peter Hanson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Austin Holt
  • Flag of the United States.svg Noah Kenyawani
  • Flag of the United States.svg Eric Krueger
  • Flag of the United States.svg Christian Little
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jacob Little
  • Flag of the United States.svg Brian Marshall
  • Flag of the United States.svg Seth Martin
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kendall McCardell
  • Flag of the United States.svg Zach McWhorter
  • Flag of the United States.svg Alicia Messer
  • Flag of the United States.svg Stephen Milhoan
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ricardo Ocampo
  • Flag of the United States.svg Salma Perez
  • Flag of the United States.svg Kristin Patterson
  • Flag of the United States.svg Ben Rigel
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matthew Rodman
  • Flag of the United States.svg Bennett Savage
  • Flag of the United States.svg Chris Schurfranz
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matthew Schwartz
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matthew Seem
  • Flag of the United States.svg Nicholas Seymour
  • Flag of the United States.svg Amilcar Sicaju
  • Flag of the United States.svg Cameron Siler
  • Flag of the United States.svg Jeremy Smith
  • Flag of the United States.svg Max Smith
  • Flag of the United States.svg Rachel Smith
  • Flag of the United States.svg Joe Suchoski
  • Flag of the United States.svg Matt Trotter
  • Flag of the United States.svg Tiffini Turpin
  • Flag of the United States.svg Katarzyna Wasiak
  • Flag of Australia (converted).svg / Flag of the United States.svg Seun Yinka-Kehinde

International appointments

In December 2018, Jair Marrufo as referee, Frank Anderson and Corey Rockwell as assistant referees, and Mark Geiger as an assistant video assistant referee, were selected to oversee the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup final. [19]

In August 2023, six PRO officials were appointed to the FIFA Women's World Cup final—three on-field and three video officials. Tori Penso was chosen to adjudicate the final, alongside assistant referees Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt. Also chosen were Support VAR Armando Villarreal, Standby VAR Carol Anne Chenard, and Standby AVAR Drew Fischer. [20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Headquarters". Professional Referee Organization.
  2. ↑ "Support Staff". Professional Referee Organization.
  3. ↑ "About PRO". Professional Referee Organization.
  4. ↑ "About PSRA". Professional Referee Organization.
  5. ↑ Avi C. (6 March 2012). "U.S. Soccer, MLS create new referee program". SBI Soccer.
  6. ↑ "Support Staff".
  7. ↑ "MLS Awards Roll of Honor".
  8. ↑ "USL Awards Roll of Honor".
  9. ↑ "Referees".
  10. ↑ "Assistant Referees".
  11. ↑ "Video Assistant Referees".
  12. ↑ "Assistant Video Assistant Referees".
  13. ↑ "FIFA International List of Match Officials".
  14. 1 2 "PRO2 Referees". PRO. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  15. ↑ "The Bear & The Ball Podcast | Cal South Soccer". Cal South. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  16. ↑ Bogert, Tom; Maurer, Pablo; Rueter, Jeff. "Why Lionel Messi's Inter Miami will open the new MLS season with replacement match officials". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  17. ↑ "Matthew Corrigan - 2015 - Men's Soccer". Mid-America Christian University. Retrieved 18 September 2024.
  18. ↑ "PRO2 Assistant Referees". PRO. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  19. ↑ "PRO officials selected to oversee FIFA Club World Cup Final". Professional Referee Organization. 21 December 2018.
  20. ↑ "Tori Penso to referee 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Final".
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