Professional Referee Organization (PRO) is the organization responsible for managing the referee and assistant referee program in professional soccer leagues in the United States and Canada, working alongside the United States Soccer Federation, Major League Soccer, the Canadian Soccer Association, the United Soccer League, the National Women's Soccer League, and the U.S. Open Cup.
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| Founded | November 2012 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 420 Fifth Avenue 7th Floor New York, NY 10018[1] |
Area served | United States and Canada |
Key people |
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| Website | www |
The organization's targets are to increase the quality of officiating in U.S. and Canadian professional leagues, develop more professional-quality officials at a younger age, and produce officials who will represent the United States and Canada in FIFA competitions.[3] The referees employed by PRO are represented by the PSRA.[4]
History
The U.S. Soccer Federation and Major League Soccer joined forces in 2012 to create the Professional Referee Organization and the aims for PRO is to develop a higher standard of officiating at a younger age and to produce referees who can represent the United States and Canada in FIFA competitions.
Then U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said, "We've always understood that the development of referees is an important aspect to the growth of the game in the United States. PRO is another step toward the improvement and professionalization of our top referees. With the additional resources and funding provided by the formation of PRO, we will continue to build upon the progress we've already made."[5]
Staff
| Employee | Title[6] |
|---|---|
| Mark Geiger | General Manager |
| Nick Primavera | Chief Operating Officer |
| John Loder | Director of Finance and Accounting |
| Joe Fletcher | Chief Refereeing Officer |
| Sarah Bettison | Manager of Human Resources and Planning |
| Yolanda Samuel | Executive Assistant |
| Dax Almazan | Manager of Payroll and Accounting |
| Sandro Ricci | Director of Senior Match Officials |
| Frank Anderson | Manager of Senior Assistant Referees |
| Greg Barkey | Manager of Video Review |
| Alan Black | Director of Technical Programs |
| Alex Prus | Director of PRO2 Match Officials |
| Mark Kadlecik | PRO2 Referee Coach |
| Erich Simmons | PRO2 Referee Coach |
| Tom Beckvermit | Director of Sports Performance |
| Lisa Stalans | Head of Sports Medicine |
| John Westbrooks | Head Sports Performance Coach |
| Nicole Ward | Director of Operations |
| Amy Edwards | Manager of Tactical and Video Analysis |
| Leisha Alcia | Operations Coordinator |
| Diane Johnson | Manager of Travel |
Major League Soccer awards
| Season[7] | Referee | Assistant Referee |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 |  Silviu Petrescu |  Ian Anderson |
| 2013 | Hilario Grajeda | Kermit Quisenberry |
| 2014 | Mark Geiger | Paul Scott |
| 2015 |  Alan Kelly | Corey Parker |
| 2016 | Frank Anderson | |
| 2017 | Allen Chapman | Corey Parker |
| 2018 | Alan Kelly | Joe Fletcher |
| 2019 | Allen Chapman | Brian Dunn |
| 2020 | Ismail Elfath | Kathryn Nesbitt |
| 2021 |  / Robert Sibiga | Cory Richardson |
| 2022 | Ismail Elfath | Corey Rockwell |
| 2023 | Victor Rivas | Ian McKay |
USL Championship awards
| Season[8] | Referee | Assistant Referee |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Guido Gonzales Jr. | Ian McKay |
| 2020 | Elton Garcia | Diego Blas |
| 2021 | Matt Thompson | Mike Nickerson |
| 2022 | Mark Allatin | Kali Smith |
| 2023 | Calin Radosav |  Christian Clerc |
Roster
Ahead of the 2024 MLS season, these match officials were listed on the PRO rosters.
Referees[9]
Mark Allatin- Malik Badawi
- Fotis Bazakos
Serhiy Boyko- Allen Chapman
- Alex Chilowicz
/ Marcos DeOliveira- Joe Dickerson
Filip Dujic- Ismail Elfath
- Drew Fischer
- Tim Ford
- Jon Freemon
- Guido Gonzales, Jr
- Pierre-Luc Lauziere
- Jair Marrufo
- Rosendo Mendoza
- Ismir Pekmic
- Chris Penso
- Tori Penso
- Michael Radchuk
- Victor Rivas
- Nima Saghafi
/ Lukasz Szpala- Ramy Touchan
- Ted Unkel
- Rubiel Vazquez
- Armando Villarreal
Assistant referees[10]
- Lyes Arfa
- Kyle Atkins
- Claudiu Badea
- Peter Balciunas
- Micheal Barwegen
- Andrew Bigelow
- Cameron Blanchard
- Diego Blas
- Chantal Boudreau
- Logan Brown
- Jose da Silva
- Brian Dunn
- Chris Elliott
- Gianni Facchini
- Adam Garner
- Ryan Graves
- Jeffrey Greeson
- Jeremy Hanson
- Walt Heatherly
- Justin Howard
- Eduardo Jeff
- Jeremy Kieso
- Kevin Klinger
- Kevin Lock
- Felisha Mariscal
- Brooke Mayo
- Ian McKay
- Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
- Meghan Mullen
- Matt Nelson
- Kathryn Nesbitt
- Corey Parker
- Ben Pilgrim
- Brian Poeschel
- Cory Richardson
- Corey Rockwell
- Mike Rottersman
- Kali Smith
- Jeffrey Swartzel
- Stefan Tanaka-Freundt
- Nick Uranga
- Chris Wattam
- Eric Weisbrod
- Jason White
- Adam Wienckowski
- Tyler Wyrostek
Video assistant referees[11]
- David Barrie
- Carol Anne Chenard
- Greg Dopka
- Geoff Gamble
- Jorge Gonzalez
- Luis Guardia
- Edvin Jurisevic
- Alejandro Mariscal
- Younes Marrakchi
- Daniel Radford
- José Carlos Rivero
- Sorin Stoica
- Kevin Stott
- Kevin Terry, Jr.
Assistant video assistant referees[12]
- Jozef Batko
- Jonathan Johnson
- Mike Kampmeinert
- Craig Lowry
- Jeffrey Muschik
- Rene Parra
- Josh Patlak
- Robert Schaap
- Thomas Supple
- Fabio Tovar
- TJ Zablocki
International roster
As of January 2024, these PRO officials' were listed on the international roster:[13]
- Lyes Arfa
- Kyle Atkins
- Micheal Barwegen
- Cameron Blanchard
- Chantal Boudreau
- Logan Brown
- Allen Chapman
- Carol Anne Chenard
- Jose Da Silva
- Filip Dujic
- Ismail Elfath
- Chris Elliott
- Drew Fischer
- Tim Ford
- Ryan Graves
- Edvin Jurisevic
- Jeremy Kieso
- Pierre-Luc Lauziere
- Felisha Mariscal
- Brooke Mayo
- Meghan Mullen
- Kathryn Nesbitt
- Corey Parker
- Chris Penso
- Tori Penso
- Cory Richardson
- Victor Rivas
- Corey Rockwell
- Kali Smith
- Stefan Tanaka-Freundt
- Nick Uranga
- Rubiel Vazquez
- Armando Villarreal
- Chris Wattam
International appointments
In December 2018, Jair Marrufo as referee, Frank Anderson and Corey Rockwell as assistant referees, and Mark Geiger as an assistant video assistant referee, were selected to oversee the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup final.[14]
In August 2023, six PRO officials were appointed to the FIFA Women's World Cup final—three on-field and three video officials. Tori Penso was chosen to adjudicate the final, alongside assistant referees Brooke Mayo and Kathryn Nesbitt. Also chosen were Support VAR Armando Villarreal, Standby VAR Carol Anne Chenard, and Standby AVAR Drew Fischer.[15]
