The principles of good Report Writing

A Misconduct Report must be professional and concise, and yet complete.

The Misconduct Report should include:

1. the teams (the full and correct names of the competing teams)
2. the venue and date of the match
3. the competition (league, tournament, etc.)
4. the player's name, jersey number, registration card, team
5. reason for report (i.e., specific Law 12 reason)
6. action taken
7. the incident (i.e., description of what actually happened stating only the facts, with no opinions, and no recommendations)

   Exactly as you saw it (there is no substitute for the facts). Be brief, but provide enough evidence and information to enable a Disciplinary Committee to understand what happened. This description would include the reaction, if any, of the player(s) and others.

Make certain that your Assistant Referees (if any) have all the above details before leaving the field.

Remember that each incident meriting a report must have a separate report; e.g., two players who are sent off means two separate reports.

Check your spelling! Almost every important word is in the current FIFA Laws of the Game or can be located on the FIFA web page at www.FIFA.com

The report is filed within forty-eight (48) hours.

While this page is NOT a copy or duplicated from it, much of what is here has been greatly influenced (and properly so) by the segment titled Misconduct Report Writing in the Procedures chapter of the USSF Referee Administrative Handbook