Soccer referees’ experience of conflict and conflict management training practice: a scoping review

Abstract

Soccer is one of the most participated in sports in the world, and referees ensure the laws are abided by. Growing attention has been given to researching the psychological aspects of refereeing because of the awareness of how refereeing performance is impacted. This scoping review aimed to map the extent of peer-reviewed and grey literature that identifies conflicts and conflict management training for soccer referees. This scoping review identified various events, perceived conflicts, and outcomes of conflicts experienced by soccer referees. No outright conflict management interventions were identified. This scoping review is the first to investigate soccer refereeing conflict management and illustrates the need to understand potential links between events surrounding a game, the conflicts and outcomes. It also highlights the need to understand what conflicts underrepresented demographics face, what conflict management approaches are used, the impact different approaches have on the game, and maps out a research agenda.