Pierluigi Collina, Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, has appealed to FIFA Member Associations (MAs) to do everything they can to stop violence against referees, particularly those at grassroots level, saying "enough is enough". "On behalf of hundreds of thousands of referees from all over the world, I want to ask you to do something to stop violence, physical and verbal violence against referees, in particular against referees in youth competition, in grassroots competition," he told delegates attending the 75th FIFA Congress in Asunción, Paraguay. "It is something that (has) become unsustainable and it’s really time to take action to stop it. Enough is enough," he added.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino agreed that it was time to take action to support Mr Collina's plea, which was greeted with applause from the delegates. "Let's all do something, but something serious, concrete and real against violence, verbal and physical, against referees,” he said. “This is inadmissible and we cannot tolerate that any more in any country in the world, in any competition in the world, so you have our full support. Let's work on that and I take it from all of you that you, of course, agree." The Congress was also given an update on the Football Video Support (FVS) system, which was trialled in 2024 at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup™ and the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup™, as well as preparations for upcoming tournaments. A video presented to Congress reported that, in a total of 84 matches over the two tournaments, the technology helped referees identify and correct 35 mistakes, while coaches had used 116 of the 336 review requests potentially available.

He said there had been a positive reaction among coaches and players, with a majority surveyed supporting its use in future competitions. The trial will now be extended to male and female senior competitions around the world, with a report to be presented to The International Football Association Board (The IFAB) at its Annual General Meeting in 2026. FVS is a simplified alternative to the video assistant referee (VAR) system. It can be used to review the same kind of incidents as those covered by VAR, but the two systems are designed to be implemented in completely different circumstances. Mr Collina said that preparations for upcoming competitions were all on track, with 117 match officials - including referees, assistant referees and video match officials - from 41 MAs already selected for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ which will take place from 14 June to 13 July in the United States.

For the FIFA World Cup 26™, to be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States from 11 June to 19 July 2026, 88 referees from 42 MAs have attended three seminars this year in Dubai, Buenos Aires and Zurich. Preparations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ in Brazil were also on course, he said, with 85 referees from 61 MAs attending four seminars this year.

Preparation of the video match officials for these competitions is also moving forward and 72 video match officials from 50 MAs attended four seminars held in Qatar, Paraguay, Costa Rica and England.