Japanese referees Takuto Okabe and Koichiro Fukushima have been announced by Football Federation Australia as the latest officials to take part in the FFA-JFA joint referees exchange program, with the two whistlers set to take control of A-League matches in rounds 23 and 24.
Okabe, a FIFA referee, will be the man in charge of Sydney FC vs Wellington Phoenix on Saturday and Saturday week’s blockbuster between Western Sydney Wanderers and Adelaide United. It will be his second time officiating in Australia, having taken part in the exchange program in the 2013-14 season.
Fellow referee Fukushima will officiate Sunday’s clash between Newcastle and the Wanderers, followed by Central Coast Mariners vs Sydney FC in Gosford Saturday week. Both men will attend FFA’s full-time referee workshop in Canberra with the A-League’s three full time officials: Ben Williams, Chris Beath and Jarred Gillett.
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Australian FIFA futsal referees Chris Colley and Ryan Shepheard have been invited to the land of the rising sun to referee two international futsal matches between Japan and Costa Rica, set for January 2016.
FFA’s director of referees, Ben Wilson, says the opportunity for exchange will provide all involved officials with “valuable international experience”.
“Exchanges such as this provide valuable international experience for referees from Australia and Japan,” Wilson said.
“The two Japanese referees who are visiting this year are very experienced and we look to seeing them during the next two rounds of the Hyundai A-League.
“In addition, the Japanese referees will be working with our full-time referees in Canberra to prepare, train and review performances and will also attend a grassroots referee coaching session in Wollongong.
“We look forward to the opportunity of sending Australian referees to Japan in the coming months to reciprocate the experience.”
This is the third season the program has run thus far.
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