How referees and players communicate on the pitch?

JuanRomanRiquelme SG

I was just wondering,

Sometimes, in Champions League, u will get 1 spanish speaking team, then another might be a team which speaks russian or something, and the referee might be from France or England.

What language does the referee speak when speaking to the players? I think some players only know how to speak 1 language. However, their mouths always seem to be moving very rapidly as though they seem to understand each other...

can anyone clarify how they communicate?

Pitot SG

Football language.

rojak12 SG

Start - Blow Whistle.

Throw-in, Free Kick, Corner, Goal Kick, Offside, Yellow Card, Red Card - No need to talk. A simple hand gesture or/plus Whistle can liao.

Full-time - Blow Whistle.

You play soccer or not?

Btw, why the referees needs to communicate with the players? Referee makes decisions on their owns, not after discussion with them.

That's why for most WORLD-class matches, the referees are all from the same country.

JuanRomanRiquelme SG

Sometimes the players want an explanation from the referee or something, so the referee has to ask the player to calm down or something like that.

Anyway in professional soccer, not as easy as what u say...."Throw-in, Free Kick, Corner, Goal Kick, Offside, Yellow Card, Red Card - No need to talk. A simple hand gesture or/plus Whistle can liao."

Full-time - Blow Whistle.

And yes I play soccer thank you.

edemonda SG

Well.. although Europeans don’t really live in a multi-racial country like singapore.. they actually know more languages than we do… although maybe they only know each language a little. Having playing professional football for years, they should be pretty familiar with most footballing terms or words used on the pitch in many languages.. so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Moreover.. today’s soccer players play all over the world.. so I wouldn’t be surprised if a russian team mate knows French and can act as a translator.

iceFatboy SG

do note that these referees do meet during off season for training and etc.
so they do communicate.

and I believe they are paired due to their language ability too.

you thinking of wc66, where a russian ref was asking whether the ball cross the line???

Pitot SG

I'm sure everyone knows what is the meaning of B!tch Fark etc etc..... Laughing