Interview with Ager Muhsin who is a football referee in Iraq

Football referee Ager sent us a couple of photos of him using our Retro Pro watch. We became more interested in Ager Muhsin as a person and as a referee. How does one start as a football referee in Iraq and what does he think is the best thing about refereeing football? We took a short and quick interview with him.

– Hello Ager. What do you do more than referee football?

– I teach physical education in Duhok school, but also, as you say, a football referee here in Iraq and Kurdistan. But refereeing football is absolutely what I love to do the most.


– How did you start refereeing football?

– I got stuck as a referee when I started as a referee when I was a teenager. I got my eyes on it because I watched a lot of football and acted as a referee. I then found out what was required to start refereeing and checked it out, to learn more about what it might be like to actually referee football. I then participated in one of the leagues in Duhok and also won an award as a referee, which made me even more motivated to continue.


– What is the best thing about refereeing football and being a football referee?

– The best is clearly when you get confirmation from players, leaders and the audience. That everyone is satisfied with my performance and that I can make good decisions in a good way. It can give me chills.

– You are a referee in the top league in Kurdistan. Do you have any goals ahead with being a referee?

– It's a hard question. I referee here in Kurdistan and also other tournaments in the surrounding area and I started as assistant referee, but only referee in the middle now. A goal I've always had is to referee international matches, it's something I dream about and work towards, of course.


– A match review with your assistant referees is important, what do you usually go through before a match?

– For me, it is important to often encourage my assistants, give them self-confidence and lift them up as referees. I usually emphasize a lot in my briefings that they are fair, that they dare to make simple and uncomfortable decisions, that they are aware of their surroundings and don't just watch the ball. So that they have an eye on things that occur before and after the ball gets there and that you have an eye on substitutes, leaders and so on. One last important thing I want to mention is that we take responsibility for our decisions, both me and my colleagues, we are a team out there. That we don't make bad decisions, or at least minimize the bad decisions, but even if we make these decisions that we of course believe are right, we take responsibility for them. We must be able to retain our respect and show respect as well.

– We know you are using a Spintso Retro Pro watch. Can you tell us more! We are of course curious.

– I wanted to get better equipment as a referee, to be able to develop even more. That's why I searched a lot before I found Spintso and started reading about the watch. Since then, I have used it in every match and love the features in it such as the vibration and that you can keep track of all the different match clocks at the same time.


- Thank you for this short interview Ager, good luck in the future.