French Ligue 1 referee union The Elite Football Referee Union (SAFE) “wants members to receive double their monthly salary and match compensation,” according to Hermant & Raymond of L’ÉQUIPE. The demand comes in the form of a document released by SAFE titled “Professionalize the Referees of Elite Football.” Currently, in addition to a fixed monthly salary of €2,900 ($3,150), Ligue 1 referees receive €2,617 ($2,846) “per L1 match.” SAFE is looking to raise those amounts to €7,250 ($7,884) and €6,542 ($7,114), respectively. According to the figures released by SAFE, referees who currently earn about €80,413 ($87,450) a year could stand to make around €200,000 ($217,500). To justify its demands, SAFE “highlighted the efforts of its members to meet expectations,” as well as the “self-employed status of referees; they are not employed by the French Football Federation.” The referees “more or less are freelance workers.” In addition to the salary demands, SAFE wants refs to be officially employed by the FFF and “paid on days not worked.” Ligue 1 currently budgets €12M ($13.1M) “for referee wages.” The ‘16-17 Ligue 1 ref salary budget was raised almost 50% to €18M ($19.6M), “a number close to” the €20M ($22M) suggested by SAFE. Behind the scenes, certain club presidents suspect that French Professional League (LFP) President Frédéric Thiriez, “whose future at the head of the LFP has never been more uncertain due to disputes between L1 and L2, wanted to put the referee representatives (who sit on the league administration council board) in his pocket” (L’ÉQUIPE, 12/8).
