How to Make Money as a Soccer Referee

I've suggested that one way to make some extra money is to turn our hobbies into incomes (in fact, this is one of my 11 great ways to earn more money). In addition, I've noted that my son and I had become volunteer soccer referees but were thinking of looking into paid games. Well, we did that and completed a season as "professional" referees, so I thought I'd give you all the scoop on how we did this, what we learned, etc. If you're interested in making some extra money as a soccer ref (or any sort of ref for that matter), this post should be right up your alley.

Some Caveats

Before I get started, let me issue a few caveats:

• This is the way it worked for us, and I think it's rather typical. But I can't say for sure since I've been doing this for less than a year. In other words, your mileage may vary.

• This is how it works in Michigan. From what I've heard, it could be different in other states or cities.

• I'll probably get some terms and meanings wrong (I am still learning myself after all.) But I know I have some more experienced soccer refs as readers and I'm hoping they'll correct me and fill in the gaps where needed.

Our Background

Just so everyone is on the same page, let me review how we got started in this venture.

My son and I both like soccer. He's played off and on, I've coached off and on (for his teams) and we watch it on TV (primarily the English Premier League.) We decided that we wanted to be part of the game in our local community, so last spring we took classes to be referees for our local community soccer league. We refereed about 20 games in April/May. Over the course of the season we heard there were games where refs got paid (we didn't know where to find them, just that some existed.) I started doing some research and thus we were on our way to turning our hobby into an income.

If you're looking to become a referee in your area, be ready for a lot of investigative work. There's not one site, one organization, one person or one central point for all the information you'll need. You'll have to network, do online research, and ask a lot of questions. Often, you'll get conflicting answers, and you'll need to separate the fact from fiction. This is what happened to me, and I simply kept at it until I got the answers.

I started by having lunch with a friend of mine who is connected in the local soccer scene. I was his daughter's soccer coach a few years ago, but he's been a soccer coach for many years and knows all the soccer world here. Over lunch, he gave me the basics, some sites to look at, and some people to call. I did all of those and sorted through the details to get enough answers to get started.

Community Versus Club Soccer

Before I go on any longer, I need to describe the difference between what I call community soccer and club soccer (I don't know if these are the proper terms for each of them -- they probably aren't -- but that's what I call them.)

The community soccer in our area is the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). AYSO's mission is "to develop and deliver quality youth soccer programs which promote a fun, family environment based on AYSO's Six Philosophies: Everyone Plays®, Balanced Teams, Open Registration, Positive Coaching, Good Sportsmanship and Player Development." In other words, it's an entry-level league where kids can learn to play soccer without the pressure of trying out for a team (everyone plays, so skill level is not a big concern). It's a fun way to play competitive soccer. The parents and coaches are supposed to be more low key and encouraging (supposed to be -- more on that later.) Teams are organized by age groups (U10 features players under 10 years old, U12 has players under 12 years old, etc.) so they are roughly equal in skill.

Club soccer is competitive soccer. There are tryouts and if the kid is good enough, he makes the team (there are various levels of teams -- select, premier, etc. and even levels within levels to differentiate the kids by skill/ability. BTW, while I say "he", there are the same options for girls, of course.) Once selected, the player gets a whole host of benefits: he gets to practice more often, he gets professional, paid coaching, his parents get to pay several hundred dollars to the club for the season, he gets to experience the sport at a more competitive (and stressful) level, he earns his playing time, and so on. Let's just say these people (players, coaches, parents, etc.) are serious about their soccer.

One thing many assume is that the competitiveness of club soccer makes it rougher on refs since there's much more seriousness around the sport. I considered this as well. After all, did my son and I want to be yelled at by professional coaches and parents paying a ton to see their kids play? No amount of money is worth the verbal abuse we've all likely seen at some games. IN reality, I've actually found the opposite -- there are less issues with the club coaches, players, and parents than with AYSO parents for one simple reason: they understand the rules (for the most part.) AYSO coaches and parents often don't know much at all about the rules of soccer, expect it to be played like basketball (touch a player and they think it's a foul), football (once the ball touches the line, it's out), or some other sport they are familiar with. This often leads to yelling nonsensical things at and towards the refs.

The Types of Soccer Referees

There are basically two types of soccer referees (in a three-man system, which is how we work. I realize there are two-man systems too, but we don't ref that way):

• Center -- This is the guy that is actually on the field, calling most of the shots. His word is law. He's the main referee and the one the other referees report to.

• Assistant Referees (ARs) -- ARs are also called "linesmen" by some, though I don't know if this is a proper term or not. They are the guys on the sidelines ("touch line" more exactly) that wave the flags and call when the ball is out of bounds, what team it goes to, and so on. They are also key to calling offside, but I'm not going to get into that since this piece will really get muddy then. There are two ARs per game -- one on each side of the field.

The Pay

Community soccer (at least AYSO) pays zippo to the refs -- they do it as volunteers to help the community. There is a $1 per game amount that's credited to each ref (both centers and ARs) that he/she can then use to purchase merchandise out of an approved catalog, but we haven't yet had the chance to buy anything as the system is very informal. I'm not sure we'll ever see anything and if we don't, it's no big deal.

Club soccer pays referees. Center refs get more and the pay is increased for both centers and ARs the older the players are. Here are various age groups, what the center ref gets paid, and what each AR gets paid for the club games in our area:

• U8-U10 -- $25 -- $10
• U11-U12 -- $30 -- $15
• U13-U14 -- $35 -- $20
• U15-U16 -- $40 -- $25
• U17-U19 -- $45 -- $30

For those of you looking for a time/cost ratio, you can tell the amount of time in a game by looking at the center ref's pay. That is also the amount, in minutes, in each half of the game. So for a U11 game, the center ref makes $30, so there are 30 minutes in each half (60 minutes for the total game). And unlike other sports most Americans watch, soccer games have a running clock (it doesn't stop for out-of-bounds, fouls, etc.) Granted, some time is usually added on, but when you see a 60-minute game here, it is very close to an hour long (unlike an American football game that has 60 minutes officially but can actually take three hours or more to complete.)

Two other interesting factors are that payments are made IN CASH (not trackable by the IRS for those people who take liberties with their taxes) and before a game (no pay, no game.)

Getting Certified

In order to referee for community games, you need to take classes to 1) learn the rules and how to run a game and 2) certify that you know how to interact with children (appropriate contact, conversation, etc.) These are free to the referees. Upon graduation, you're given a jersey, pants, socks, a whistle, yellow and red cards, a coin (to flip) and you're good to go.

In order to referee club level games, you need to take a US Soccer Federation (USSF) class that certifies you are a valid referee. The lowest rank of these is Level 9 and the highest is Level 1 (which I assume are top professional referees refereeing MLS games and the like.) My son and I went to an all-day, Level 9 class in August. Afterwards, we took the test, passed, and got our badges that certify us as USSF Level 9 refs for one year. The cost of the class was $60 each.

Getting Started

At this point, a new ref would usually buy all his gear -- shirts, shorts, socks, etc. -- but we already had most of our stuff from AYSO. We did buy new, different colored shirts and a few other things, spending $100 total. But we didn't need nearly as much as someone starting from ground zero.

So I took the next step that aspiring refs take -- contacting referee assignors. These are people who assign referees for a team or several teams. By contacting my soccer friend mentioned above as well as doing some web research, I was able to identify three ref assignors in our part of the city that we could potentially work for. Of the three, two didn't really want to work with Level 9 referees (since we're limited to being ARs and can't ref above the U12 age range.) Fortunately, the one ref assignor I did hit it off with was both the closest to our home and assigned for three teams. As such, we were able to get more games and all but one was within a few miles of our house.

The Season

The fall soccer season is September and October in Michigan. We had a commitment the last week of October, so we were up for seven weeks (primarily Saturdays) during the two months. In addition, we decided to referee both AYSO and club games. The former would allow us to serve our community as well as get experience being center refs (AYSO lets both my son and me center games) while the latter would allow us to earn some money while learning the ropes of a new system.

In the end, here are our season game totals:

• 16 AYSO games -- Me 9 as center and 7 as AR, my son 7 as center and 9 as AR

• 19 Club games -- All as ARs for both of us

The Money

Here's how the financials broke down for this season:

• Revenue: For the 19 games I earned $230 and my son earned $235 (we split up one game and his was higher paying)

• Costs: Between the class and the uniforms, supplies, etc., we spent about $110 each (though I paid for most of his stuff)

There were also some miscellaneous costs like gas/travel and a burger here and there, but it wasn't much.

Ok, so we didn't make a windfall this time around (my son did well since I absorbed all the costs), but we had a great time, learned a lot, and set ourselves up for future success. Also remember that the costs are mostly one-time (the shirts) or once a year (the classes) and there are TWO seasons of soccer (spring and fall) in a year. In other words, we have the costs for a full year above but only revenue from half a year.

The Potential

Ok, so what sort of future success can we expect? Let's look at some scenarios.

• Scenario #1 -- Let's assume that we had worked the same number of club games as we actually did (19), but that one of us had been the center ref for each of the games (remember, neither of us were qualified yet to be center refs, but more on that later). I'll assume that person would have earned $25 per game (the lowest amount a center can earn) while the other served as AR and earned the amount I earned. This means one of us would have banked $475 while the other earned $230 for a total of $705 for this season. If we'd do this for both seasons in a year, we'd be looking at $1,410 total per year.

• Scenario #2 -- Let's say we hadn't worked the AYSO games this season and had done club games instead -- both of us serving as ARs. That would have given us 35 games total at a rate of $14.375 per game ($230/16) or $503 total each. This nets out to a total for both of us of $1,006 for a season or $2,012 total per year.

• Scenario #3 -- Let's combine the two above and assume we worked 35 games at the club level -- one as center and the other as AR. This means one of us would have earned $875 while the other netted $503. For the season, we would have earned $1,378 total or $2,756 together for a year.

And there's a lot of potential to earn more. For instance:

• As I said, we were booked (out of town) one weekend. If we had worked it, we could have netted over 10% more games (and thus 10% more pay).

• We didn't work at all on Sundays (only Saturdays -- usually from 8 am until 5 pm or so) since it's our family day. But if we (or someone else) wanted to, we could have added to our number of games BIG TIME and thus our pay as well.

• Since this was our first season, we worked mostly the lower level (and lower paying) games. We could move up in both age and pay as time goes on.

The Future

So, what's next for us? Well, now that we've served one season as Level 9 refs, I'm qualified to take the Level 8 class (which would then allow me to center ref games. BTW, my son is too young to take the class -- he can do so in 2011. Also, this is one advantage of living in Michigan as I believe all other states require you to serve one year between Level 9 and taking the Level 8 class.) I told my son that I would take the class and we'd work next year (both seasons) with me as center and him as AR as many games as we wanted -- and that we'd pool the money and split it (so he could benefit from my higher earnings too.) He thought this was a great deal!

We probably won't realize the amounts in the scenarios above because we probably will keep working some AYSO games to help them out (and to get experience for my son to center ref), we really can't do more games given the amount of time our family is willing to spend on this, and who knows if we can even get enough paid games in the future (do that many really exist for us? I think they do, though I'd have to network with other ref assignors.) But realistically I think we can end up making somewhere in the $1,500 to $2,000 range total per year with expenses of maybe $200 or so. Not bad for a fun activity that gets us some exercise and we both enjoy. And for my son, this is GREAT pay and beats many other jobs he could have.

The Stories

Along the way, we ran into several money-related stories that didn't fit in the above but that I wanted to share with you all. Here goes:

• There were many high school and college kids reffing club soccer games (they were the center refs for the games we were ARs) and they were raking in the cash (I'm sure they weren't claiming this on their taxes, BTW). Sure, they worked all day, both days, every weekend, but they were making great money. Reffing in this manner is something my son could keep doing as he gets older.

• Lots of people ref simply for the money (I assume they like the game too, but the money is their main motivation.) When we took our Level 9 test, they graded the tests right in front of us as we came up to the desk. When one 11-year-old girl passed, she held up her test score and yelled, "Aeropostale, here I come!!" :-)

• On a lunch break between games my son and I went into Wendy's to grab a bite to eat. It was 11:30 am and kinda slow, the people behind the counter saw we were in our ref uniforms, and we struck up a conversation. One asked if we got paid and I told him about the club soccer games and what we made. He said, "Hmmm, that's more than I make." He had a gleam in his eye, so I think I might see him on the field someday soon.

So, what did I miss or get wrong? I'm sure those of you who know soccer refereeing better than I do can find some gaps. If so, please comment below.

Comments

[chris]

I refereed soccer games while I was in middle school (working as an AR/Linesman) and through college. Over time I made a nice side income and it helped a lot as college kids are typically broke. Overall it probably totaled around 10 years of refereeing. I started at the rec level (community) and eventually was only doing center reffing for travel and high school. My travel soccer coach encouraged me to continue as he has now made it into collegiate games and is traveling around reffing while owning a soccer shop. I strongly encourage anyone to do it. You don't have to have been a soccer player. It helps to have had coaching/playing experience (I played since I was 5) but it's not necessary. The biggest aid in why playing helps is that it gives you the perspective from the player's side instead of following the ref book to a tee. Player's hate when you start throwing out cards for a small infraction when it happens just too often. There is a complete difference between a referee who is on a power trip and a referee who has control of the game. This is stuff you can learn over time while reffing and it comes quick...just watch how others handle it and gather good ref role models over time (it's easy to see who you respect as a ref and who you don't). Good luck and let me know if I can ever answer any questions.

[CPA Abroad]

I think that covers it pretty well. I used to ref a Saturday morning local league while I was in high school. Great money, and since I was actually playing soccer at the same time (on my HS team, but games were at night and I was a keeper so if I ran around a little in the morning it didn't really matter) it was the only part time job I could have during the season.

As you stated, it is truly almost all upfront cost. You can wear the same 1 or 2 shirts for years. The only incremental cost are gas and time.

My dad is also a ref, but I think this was his last year. After doing it for about 15 years he is tired of dashing off to HS games after work (some of which were $60-75, and at the HS level where I am from it is a 2 man system for JV with the 2 staying to be ARs for the varsity, therefore $100+ for an evening). Based on what he has told me, they are begging for refs in some areas. When he first started it was "take as many games as you want," then there seemed to be an influx of refs so games got a little scarcer, and now it has come full circle.

[MC]

Gosh, now I wish I knew how to play soccer! And to think that I wasted my teenage years touring with the concert choir instead. I'm going to go ahead and blame my mother for that.

[Crystal]

My husband loves officiating varsity and sub-varsity football and basketball in the Houston area. He makes $3000-5000 a year doing both depending on how many games he picks. The Texas Association of Sports Officials and the UIL officials don't get paid in cash, so we definitely would get taxed on it except mileage deductions take care of everything. As FMF said, not bad money for something he would do as a hobby anyway!

Keep in mind that the upfront costs for football are alot more than soccer and basketball...$300-600 minimum. The thick, white pants are $45-60 by themselves, the shoes are $50-75, the shirts are $30-40, and there are a bunch of small items like special socks, flags, white bean bags, down indicators, game cards, special pencils, etc. Obviously, the less games you ref, the longer everything lasts. My husband refs 3-5 nights (6-10 games) every week during the season, so most of his stuff wears out every 2 years.

Oh, and my husband has never played football...he just loves reffing and watching it on tv...that seems weird to me but it works great for him! :)

[Ari]

I Started out refereeing the youth leagues when I was 15 years old earning $15 per game. I would do a few games on Saturday and a few on Sunday. I could easily make $100 in a weekend which for a teenager is A LOT of money. It sure beats a minimum wage job most teens have.

NOTE TO FMF: Refereeing also forced me to develop my communication skills. As a teenager I would have to introduce myself to coaches and present myself in a professional manner. I would also have to manage with confrontational situations in which parents/coaches (which were three times my age)were not happy with the calls made. It will do wonders for your son's confidence and social skills. Make sure he keeps with it! And when he starts doing more competitive games make sure you are there to help deal with the aftermath because there will be times when the coaches will be all over him (even when he called a great match!)

After a few years working lower level youth matches I progressed to higher youth matches (16-18 year olds), which are extremely entertaining and pay roughly $45 per game to the middle ref.

When I began college I took the high school referee course and that is where the money really started rolling in. I scheduled all of my classes early in the day to open up my afternoons (typically matches were around 3:30PM). Those games paid $67 per game back in 2003 but wages have increased to $75 per game. I would work 6-7 games per week (including double headers here and there)and pull in $400 - $500 per week. Sure beats work-study...

I do college matches as well now which can range from $180 - $360 for a middle and $125 - $225 for a line-PLUS MILEAGE!

I don't work as many games as my colleagues but earn roughly 4-5k per year officiating soccer

Ari

[FMF]

Ari --

GREAT point about the extra benefits reffing will have for my son! Those are qualities that will help him well beyond soccer and I can already see them developing in him (how he has to lead the players, introduce himself to coaches, etc.)

I also appreciate your offer of advice. I have your email address but took it off the comment so you don't get spammed. ;-)

[Jane]

I was connected in with the Old Grand Rapids City league Track system back in college and worked a few meets every year at the league, at regionals and worked 4+ Michigan State track meets over they years. (including fetching shot puts when I was in the 8th grade) With track only the race managers and the Officials (guys who shot the gu to start races) had to be certified, and you were paid based on your job. When I fetched shot puts I thing I got $20 for the day plus they fed me a box lunch. My Dad generally runs the Shot Put or discus and I think he makes about $100 for state meets and probably around $40 for a regular one. I do remember on meet where we celebrated 50 years of service of someone on the pole vault crew.

[JoeK]

FMF - good article about the basics of getting into it. I also ref in Michigan (Detroit Metro area).

For those former players or people who love the game and want to get into it, a good starting point for becoming a USSF ref is your state's youth soccer website. Just google your state + youth soccer association and go to that. They will have a referee's page where you can find info on entry-level classes, who assignors are and how to contact them and so forth.

For costs, I started reffing this year (after playing soccer for 20 years, including in college the last 4 years) and uniform/equipment costs were about $300. Add in costs of the classes and gas money, and it came out to around $600 this year. But I did pull down $1775 between the spring and fall seasons, 100% of it tax-free cash!! I did 78 games total this year (my first year) and I average $22/game.

One key to it is you have to be actively contacting assignors to get games. If you're new, nobody knows you so you have to be proactive. I asked assignors (email) for as many games as possible. One other challenge is they usually start the new referees off with the younger aged kids, 6, 7, 8 year olds. That is great for a young teenage referee who doesn't have much experience, but for me after about 10 of those games it's frustrating not to get older age games since I have a ton of soccer experience and handle the older kids quite well. Eventually though I was getting centers for 16 yr olds, and AR's for 18's and 19's.

Yes, moving up in the referee world can earn more and more money when you do high school and college games, but that will take a few years before you're ready.

And yea, the parents are idiots. Coaches too, even at club level with supposedly "premier" teams who are good at the game and should know the laws. You have to deal with it, either ignore it or toss them during the game, and most of the time if you try and explain after the match is over, there's nothing you can say that will change their mind.

[Anna]

Great article! I started reffing in Washington State when I was 13, and I did it all through high school. We actually got paid to ref community games at about $20-25 per game. It was a great way to make a side income, but it was also a great learning experience. As a very young ref, it teaches you to deal with adults as a professional, and that's immensely helpful as you start getting "real" jobs in high school and college.

[Brian]

I was expecting to be angry while reading this article (my attitude was "no kidding!) but I think you've done a great job here. You sound like I did when I first started and everything was a mystery. It's tough at first, but once you get to know more people you'll get more games (you constantly build momentum doing more and more games).
You can definately expect to make over $2000 a summer and upwards of $4000 if you really want. One thing you learn the more you referee is that there are a lot of games going on at many different levels. It's not the same everywhere, but in largely populated areas, soccer is a growing sport and there are many games to be had.

The only downside is the way people treat you. Club soccer is actually MUCH worse because people take it way too seriously. As long as you can handle a lot of abuse, the support from the people you work with makes it worth while.

Good luck moving up the ladder!
ps: The term "linesman" is an old term for Assisstant Referees and was changed to give the linesmen more credibility.

[FMF]

Thanks to all of you for commenting -- you've really added a lot of information and value to this piece!!!

[J in FL]

Vinny,

Um.... never mind.

[randomscrub]

I used to umpire for baseball games when I was a teenager, and the system was quite similar, except for the fact that even the community-level games paid. (Heck, I earned $25 per game for umpiring 9 year olds' games!) The more competitive the league, the more you got paid - and the more the coaches hassle you, particularly since a one-man umpiring system leaves a few holes where it's tough to see everything, and you really *can't* watch for obstruction over at third if there's a play at first.

I never really did it seriously, but had I treated it like a real summer job, at about $30-$40 per game (for the teenager community leagues, more for the traveling club teams) I could have easily made a few thousand bucks, just working evenings and weekends. And this was ten years ago, so pay has presumably gone up since then!

[Concojones]

Seems like a great job for FMF's son indeed: good pay but also fun, outdoor, good for social skills.

I just wonder: why soccer? Why not basketball or baseball. Since these sports are more popular, don't they pay better too? Another thing: how about playing soccer? I have some friends (in Europe) who play soccer and get payed handsomely for it: $100-400 per game, depending on whether they win. This is the lower leagues, where you don't need to be supertalent; it's something anyone dedicated could do, provided they start playing at a young age (FMF, an idea for your son?).

[FMF]

Concojones --

We ref soccer because we both love it. My son plays soccer as well and also plays basketball (I'm one of the coaches.)

As far as reffing basketball, we're too busy with practices and games to both ref and play (not so with soccer) and neither of us likes baseball that much (plus we travel a lot in the summer.) We do both love football, but it seems a bit more complicated to referee than soccer and (I suspect) more competition for ref spots.

I haven't heard of any place in the US where a young teenager without a supertalent can play any sport for pay, but if you know of one, I'd love to hear about it.