As the two-year project comes to a close, the YouRef consortium met for the fourth and final time to review the pilot results and agree on the future of the initiative.
The YouRef project consortium gathered in Gijón, Spain, on 23 September for its fourth and final Transnational Project Meeting (TPM), one week before the official end of the project. Hosted by Universitas: Science, Knowledge & Innovation, the meeting brought together the International Federation for Sports Officials (IFSO), Sports Innovation Hub, and FISU.
Pilot results
Partners reviewed the results of the pilot programme built around the YouRef online course “Strategic Development of Young Sport Officials: Recruitment, Retention and Culture”, hosted on SportAcademy.com. The course has 122 registered participants from Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania, with seven universities and three national federations involved.
Among the learners who completed the course, the average share of correct answers rose from 75% before the course to 95% at the end. Their attitudes also changed: they moved away from a purely technical view of officiating and towards one centred on people and developmental feedback.
Reaching the sport community
The consortium also looked back on the events that brought YouRef to a wider audience. These included the Torino 2025 FISU World University Games, the European Sport Congress in Lille, the IFSO International Event in Orléans and, most recently, the 2026 FISU World University Championship Beach Sports in Figueira da Foz. The official project website, youref.info, recorded almost 22,000 visits in its first year, and the project’s social media accounts passed their follower target.
Beyond 2026
The meeting then turned to the sustainability of the project. The online course will stay free and open on SportAcademy for at least five years. A survey will be sent each year to participants to follow the long-term impact on the recruitment and retention of officials. Partners also expressed interest in a follow-up initiative focused on female referees.