The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball Committee has provided an update to referees in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
It has been confirmed that officials will retain their current 1, 2 or 3 level for next year and there will be no maintenance fee from 2021 onwards.
 
All current referees need to do to is send their E-Passport – a document which contains information about their national federation and which tournaments they have officiated at – by 31 December 2020.
 
“We are all in this together and hope that these decisions will be positive for our valued referees,” Kari Rasanen, Chair of the IBSA Goalball Committee, said. “We know that everyone has many questions about their status after a difficult year with a severe lack of national and international competitions. These are normally a big part of our evaluation process for referees but it is obviously not possible to take them into consideration at this point. Therefore we took the view to stay as we are to avoid further disruption, and to make a further gesture by removing fees in recognition of the commitment our officials have shown.”
 

The goalball calendar will re-start with the re-scheduled European Championships Group B in Lahti, Finland, from 25 January.
 
The Euros Group C will then take place in Targu-Mures, Romania, from 11-18 April.
 
The Americas Championships head to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in June ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Other regional competitions will be added to the 2021 calendar shortly.
 
The Youth and main World Championships will take place in 2022, in Sao Paulo and Hangzhou, China, respectively.