Referee's records (players and coaches sanctions)

Referees’ records obtained from the 275844 games played in 1401 league competitions in the 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 seasons in the Valencia Community (Spain). A total of 53031 sanctions were recorded by the referees of these matches, being most of them minor (93.334 %). The most frequent sanctions were produced because of accumulation of cards (41.8 %), violent or dangerous play (6.5 %) and contemptuous and inconsiderate attitudes towards referees (5.5 %). Assaults (3.3 %), insults and serious offenses (2.7 %) and very serious offenses (0.004 %) received the severe sanctions by referees. Furthermore, we found significantly (p<.05) more minor than serious sanctions, in 11-a-side soccer than in 8-a-side soccer, in the men's category compared to the women's category and in the U18 and U15 men's categories compared to the rest of the lower age categories. This suggests that the strategies adopted for the improvement of sportsmanship should especially target players in the U18 and U15 male categories.