Sergio Ramos targets referee role after Real Madrid career over
It's the first day of April and although we'd love to be able to say that the Real Madrid legend is determined to become a top-flight referee when his playing days are over, we can't.Real Madrid v. Fuenlabrada live online
Well, we hope you had some fun reading our little untruth to celebrate April 1st, aka April Fool's Day. We certainly enjoyed coming up with the idea and you never know, maybe Sergio will give it some thought.
Here's our 2017 April Fool, which most of you saw right through...
While many top-flight footballers look to head into management or TV punditry at the end of their playing careers, Ramos has no intention of hanging up his boots. Instead he admits he just can’t accept being out of the limelight and wants to be nothing less than a top-flight referee.
Ramos to take full control
The Real Madrid captain is already planning for life after football. The 31-year old, who celebrated his birthday on 30 March, does not want to leave the beautiful game but instead of taking charge of both penalty areas, he aims to boss the entire pitch, as the referee. Although the Spanish defender was trying to keep his officiating plans top secret, some of the details were let slip at his recent birthday bash, and AS were quick to investigate further.
The Madrid captain is at an early stage of completing his badges in Spain - which he does in his own spare time, spending one or two afternoons per week at the Spanish federation (RFEF) in Las Rozas on the outskirts of the Spanish capital. It is believed that Ramos has his eyes set on donning the Premier League refereeing outfit one day, with the physical nature of the game being more to his liking than the "more theatrical" nature of LaLiga. As a long-time advocate for the VAR system, Ramos also sees the English league as having decision-makers that will embrace the technology faster than his home federation will. Interestingly, after the recent friendly against France, the player was seen examining the equipment that had been used for two key decisions during the game.
Another league that has interested him was that of teammate Luka Modric, in Croatia, where he has been speaking to them about potentially being fast-tracked through their system to reach level one within a year of ending his playing career.
Taking to refereeing like a natural
AS have managed to get inside the inner circle of the current RFEF course and we spoke to one of Ramos' fellow aspiring referees and one of the professors to get further insight:
“Ramos definitely feels he can do as good a job as most of the referees out there”, said class companion Joaquín Risas, who joked, “He’s also got a tremendous flourish with the card when he books someone, like a matador”.
“In the practice games he’s taken charge of so far he’s very even-handed”, said one of his teachers, Tira L. Otro, “the one problem he has is that he tends to let play flow for much of the game, before suddenly producing a major match-changing decision late on, often in stoppage time”.
“It'll be great, the defenders will be able to tackle hard and fair like I always did, but without getting a card, as so often happened unfairly to me. That said, any back-chat and they’ll be off. That's well out of order”, Ramos apparently commented at one of the evening classes he’s attending to complete his badge.
Refereeing rivalry: Ramos vs Piqué
What is almost beyond belief is that it’s not just Ramos taking his refereeing badges, Barcelona’s Gerard Piqué is too. Sources close to both camps claim that their man was first to start what could be a new trend, but what is clear is that the race to become an official whistler is now just another part of the pair’s rivalry. Piqué is being encouraged in his studies by the first African referee to gain a FIFA badge, N'Daiye Konya.
“Piqué will get his badge first, no doubt about it”, said a source close to the Catalan player, “he’s driven, not just by his rivalry with Ramos, but by all those handballs that are never given. He reckons he’s the man to change refereeing.”
Always looking to take things a little further, Sergio Ramos has promised himself a new tattoo of his hero Pierluigi Collina’s face. Yes, the Italian referee is set to be inked onto the Real Madrid defender’s body, but only when Ramos completes his referee’s badge. What is of course possible is that Piqué and Ramos end up on the same refereeing team for Spain. Would Ramos accept being assistant ref to Piqué as referee?
Ramos will be admitted to the Andalucian Committee and is being mentored by David Fernandez Borbalán, while Piqué is expected to be inscribed by the Catalan Committee.
A further announcement from both players is due early afternoon today.
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