9. REFEREES AND ASSISTANT REFEREES

9.1 ASSISTANCE TO THE REFEREES AND ASSISTANT REFEREES BEFORE THE MATCH
The commissioner shall give the referees and assistant referees as much assistance as possible. He shall ensure the referees and assistant referees are left undisturbed to concentrate on the match and direct the organisers to keep unauthorised persons away from the referee's dressing room.

9.2 INSTRUCTIONS TO THE REFEREES AND ASSISTANT REFEREES BEFORE THE MATCH
The commissioner shall request the referee to supervise the match in accordance with the directives issued by the FIFA Referees' Committee and assert his authority from the start in the event of any misconduct or foul play.

9.3 RESULT OF TO THE PREVIOUS MATCH / EXTRA TIME / GOLDEN GOAL / PENALTY KICKS
For matches played by the cup system (knock-out), the commissioner shall discuss with the referee before the match the possibility of extra time having to be played, or penalty kicks if no goal (golden goal) has been scored during extra time to decide the outcome, and which goal is to be used for penalty kicks. Information on these matters can be obtained from the competition regulations and from the result of the previous match.

9.4 INTERVIEWS
Referees and assistant referees at FIFA competition matches are strictly forbidden to give interviews on events relating to the course of the match. The commissioner shall ensure that the referees and assistant referees are not accosted in this way. The commissioner himself shall adopt a reserved attitude towards the media and shall not pass comment on the referee and assistant referees or any of their decisions. Neither may he make any forecasts about forthcoming decisions by the Disciplinary Committee in connection with any incidents that have occurred at the game.

9.5 HALF-TIME
If necessary, the commissioner or referee inspector may use the half-time interval to give specific instructions to the referees and assistant referees (but not in connection with the way they are officiating), to the officials responsible for the two teams or to the organisers.

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