On June 4 in Odessa, as part of a program to promote and develop arbitration, a football tournament took place with the participation of representatives of regional associations of Ukraine's Football Federation. Teams from Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Khmelnytskyi, and Odesa regions participated in the competition.

A particular feature of the tournament was that young referees (listeners at the National Referees School) played alongside experienced members of the refereeing corps who officiate matches at various levels of football and futsal.

The main goal of the event, which took place under the auspices of the Referees Committee of the Ukrainian Football Federation (UAF), was to popularize the profession of a football referee, attract new candidates for refereeing, and strengthen professional ties among representatives from different regions of Ukraine. The tournament provided an excellent opportunity for exchanging experience, informal communication, and promoting refereeing activities.

Special thanks go to UPL referee Maxim Koziriatyuk, who initiated and organized the tournament, as well as the heads of the Referees Committee of the Odesa Regional Football Association, Dmytro Bondarenko and Oleksandr Pavlinov, for their high-level organization of the event and resolution of all technical and organizational issues.

The first referees tournament demonstrated significant interest from participants and confirmed the importance of such events for the development of football refereeing in Ukraine. The organizers have already expressed a desire to make this tournament a traditional annual event, which will unite referees from all regions of the country, contribute to their professional development, and promote the cause of refereeing among young people.

Such initiatives not only strengthen the professional community of football referees in Ukraine but also create new opportunities for cooperation, development, and attracting future referees into the great family of football.