Two Canadians selected to officiate in PFL SuperCopa

It was a historic event in which the world’s most iconic player was participating in. For such a big time player and a mega event only the best referees are called upon to manage the game and two Canadians were able to make the cut.

Ottawa’s Joe Audi, a CSA National Referee Instructor, and up and coming futsal referee, Filip Dujic of Toronto, were selected to be a part of the four man crew on Saturday evening for the Professional Futsal League’s (PFL) first ever SuperCopa match between top Australian club Muita Calma and Team PFL, which featured legendary futsal icon, Falcão.

Both Canadians were partnered with FIFA referee Shane Butler (St. Louis) in addition to elite American referee Lance VanHaitsma (West Palm Beach). The event took place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Centre at Disney World in Orlando and was attended by well over 2000 futsal fans from across the globe as part of the week long USA Futsal World Futsal Championship festivities.

PFL Commissioner Keith Tozer, who was at the helm of Team PFL, was very impressed with the officiating in the match and was particularly impressed with the fact that Dujic is only 21 years of age.

The selection comes off the back of a week long PFL Referee Combine that saw referees from all over North America participate including an impressive eight from Canada. The combine and assessments were led by FIFA instructors, Ed Marco, fellow Canadian Bob Tibbo (Ottawa) alongside North America’s top official Shane Butler.

SuperCopa Referees from left to right:
Joe Audi, Lance VanHaitsma, Shane Butler, Filip Dujic

Eight Canadian referees participated in the first PFL Referee Combine

Costa Karamalis, David Figliano, and Dan Popescu (in black)
are able to snag a picture with the legendary Falcão