The referees and linesmen in Ecuador 1995

Divided by continent, there were:
Referees: Europe 4, AFC 2, Conmebol 3, CAF 2, Concacaf 2 and OFC 1.
Linesmen: Europe 3, AFC 3, Conmebol 3, CAF 3, Concacaf 3.

These match officials arrived in Ecuador on 29 July. On 30 and 31 July they attended referees' seminars, designed to allow them to get to know each other, to start to work together and to have further instruction in FIFA's "Unité de doctrine". They also underwent a fitness test. In the 12 minutes' run some of them had trouble meeting the minimum distance requirement set by FIFA's Referees' Commission, one or two falling well short of the mark. However, since their results in all the other parts of the test ranged from good to very good, FIFA decided to keep them all in Ecuador for the tournament.

The young group of linesmen were just as convincing as the referees.

1. There was a psychological effect for many of them, who had never taken this kind of test at high altitude before. In addition this was the first time that they had been asked by FIFA to officiate at a world tournament.
2. The short acclimatisation period (arrival only three days before the fitness test was carried out). Some of them had more trouble than others, shown for example by inability to sleep, digestive problems, etc. Those who had previous experience of working under similar altitude and climatic conditions (e.g. the U-17 qualification matches in Bolivia) were quicker to adjust.
3. The hard training session the evening before the test. This factor should not be ignored, since many match officials would prefer to have an extended rest period before being called upon to undergo testing, or to prepare in their own individual and accustomed way for the test coming up.
   

107 yellow and 10 red cards (four as a result of two successive yellow cards in the same game) were flourished at Ecuador '95.

Cooperation between the referees and the linesmen was basically good, with the proviso that problems due to insufficient knowledge of English still exist. Although FIFA had informed all the national associations that a basic knowledge of English was required for all officials, this was not the case in Ecuador. However, in most matches the harmony between the referee and his linesmen was excellent, even when they came from different continents.

Performances in the short distances of the fitness tests were hardly affected by the altitude (here the start to the 50m sprint) but many match officials suffered under the long-distance run.

In summary, the tournament was a challenge for this group of young referees and linesmen. The support they received from the FIFA Referees' Committee and local coordinators before they went into action in the various venues was good. This helped to make the overall impression created by the match officials at this tournament a positive one.