Newly appointed ERC President and Secretary visit home of European Volleyball, share vision for 2024-2028 mandate

The newly appointed President and Secretary of the European Refereeing Commission (ERC), Arturo Di Giacomo and Avelino Azevedo, paid a short visit to the home of European Volleyball earlier this week for a meeting with the management designed to discuss the major goals and main programmes that the ERC has devised for the four coming years. 

The idea is to pursue and expand the vision established under the tenure of the previous ERC President, Zorica Bjelic, to which Mr Di Giacomo and Mr Azevedo contributed through their previous roles as ERC Secretary and ERC Member from 2020 to 2024, with a focus on mentoring and growing the skills of young talented referees. Other areas of further development include the organisation of courses for the latest additions to the pools of referee coaches and challenge referees, a better use and implementation of the video challenge system, more transparency and a closer cooperation with the National Refereeing Commissions across Europe. 

The ERC leaders have also envisioned the establishment of working groups within the Commission with a continued follow-up on the performance of referees – as well as other projects to be worked out and submitted to the CEV Board of Administration for their approval. The newly appointed CEV Managing Director, Vuk Karanovic, will help relay such programmes and potential actions to the CEV President and Board of Administration with the ultimate goal being the further improvement of refereeing across the full spectrum of Volleyball, Beach Volleyball and Snow Volleyball competitions.  

A first meeting gathering all the newly appointed ERC members for the 2024-2028 term shall be taking place in January of 2025 after a first online conversation via video link, which is likely to go ahead in the coming weeks. 

Before returning to Belgium and Portugal respectively, Mr Di Giacomo and Mr Azevedo thanked the CEV staff for their warm welcome to the home of European Volleyball as they both look forward to a fruitful and pleasant cooperation in the years ahead.