U.S. SOCCER UNVEILS NEW REFEREE LOGO

Updated Logo Includes U.S. Soccer Crest

While Maintaining the Traditional Feeling of the Previous Referee Logo

CHICAGO (May 14, 2007) – U.S. Soccer has unveiled a new referee logo to better identify the organization’s successful referee program, one of the largest in the world with more than 144,000 members. The sharp new logo features the U.S. Soccer crest incorporated into a design that maintains the look and feel of the traditional referee logo. The new logo was approved by U.S. Soccer’s Board of Directors as a means of more closely identifying the referee program with U.S. Soccer.

The updated logo was officially unveiled at the State Directors of Instruction and State Directors of Assessment Workshop in Colorado Springs, Colo., last weekend (May 11-12). The new referee crest bears the words “U.S. Soccer Federation Referee Program” in gold, forming a border around a gold leaf design and the traditional U.S. National Team crest.

In order to more closely associate the referee program with the U.S. Soccer Federation, the U.S. Soccer National Team crest (that was created in 1995) replaced the old Federation crest that had been serving as the referee program logo.

The original referee logo and badge design, which was U.S. Soccer’s logo in the 1980s and early 90s, was adopted as the referee logo when U.S. soccer developed the U.S. National Team crest that is currently worn on game uniforms.

Referees will begin to see the new logo on U.S. Soccer Referee publications, products and official OSI apparel beginning in the Fall of 2007. Official 2008 badges will bear the updated logo. Older versions of the logo will still be recognized and referees may continue to display the older version of the logo indefinitely.

U.S. Soccer’s Referee Program has been comprehensively training and developing a large number of referees since the early 1970s. The program has grown into one of the largest in the world with more than 144,000 participants, including 23 members of the FIFA International Referee Panel, men and women.