how fit do referees actually need to be well more so than you might think consider the speed of a top professional football match and then know that generally speaking a referee should be no further than 20 yards away from the ball at any one time the total distance covered varies but it tends to be somewhere between six and N miles and while there are lulls in the action a referee must walk Jog and Sprint in response to the action and to be quick to change direction stay aware of play and obviously make decisions and while
they can look ungainly compared to professional players referees often also reach Peak speeds similar to The Players plus to officiate internationally FIFA mandates are fitness test demanding six 40 m Sprints completed in under 6 seconds with a 90 seconds rest between and 10 laps of a 400 m track completed in under 21 minutes and 30 seconds
