The Professional Referee Organization announced its 2015 refereeing roster on Tuesday, the group of 21 center officials, 51 assistant referees and 14 fourth officials who will oversee MLS action this season.
Among the highlights of this year's roster: Referee Kevin Stott and five ARs will officiate in their 20th season of MLS, while 15th-year veteran Ricardo Salazar is poised to reach the milestone of his 200th career MLS match.
Mark Geiger returns following a busy 2014 that saw him assigned to five FIFA World Cup games and named MLS Referee of the Year and CONCACAF Referee of the Year. And PRO can still lay claim to the rare situation of four siblings all earning places on their overall 2015 roster: Alejandro, Eduardo, Apolinar and Felisha Mariscal.
PRO also revealed that the transgressions of dissent and persistent infringement will be focused on as “areas for reviewing.”
“These two areas are ones that we highlighted to our officials and reminded them of their duties within the law,” PRO general manager Peter Walton told the organization's website. “We will continue our focus on holding, pushing at free kicks, corner kicks in the penalty area and also enforce sanctions on time-wasting tactics that were sometimes employed during games.”
Last year PRO similarly emphasized two facets of the game: maintaining the flow and rhythm of matches and reducing the incidence of pushing, grabbing and other interference in the penalty box.
Complete list of PRO referees for 2015 MLS season
- Fotis Bazakos
- Allen Chapman
- Ismail Elfath
- Drew Fischer
- Dave Gantar
- Mark Geiger
- Jorge Gonalez
- Hilario Grajeda
- Juan Guzman
- Edvin Jurisevic
- Alan Kelly
- Jair Marrufo
- Chris Penso
- Silviu Petrescu
- Jose Carlos Rivero
- Ricardo Salazar
- Sorin Stoica
- Kevin Stott
- Baldomero Toledo
- Ted Unkel
- Armando Villarreal
