Soccer referee scheduling software
Referee assigning for youth soccer clubs.
Put a center and two ARs on every game across your fields, or a single referee on small-sided games. Send the weekend by text or email when it’s ready, see who has accepted, and let referees know when the weather moves a game.
- Center, AR1 and AR2 by default
- Referees need no account
- Change notices built in
Inside Ref Grid
Check the weekend before anyone is told
Choosing a referee saves a draft. When every field is covered, open the review: how many assignments, referees and games, who gets a text, an email or both, anyone you can’t reach, and any overlaps. Then send.
After the send, each message shows whether it was sent, delivered or failed, as reported by the text and email providers. A delivered message isn’t an acceptance: the cell on the board changes when the referee answers, or when you record an answer they gave you at the field.
On a soccer weekend
Small-sided games, linesmen, eight fields and weather
- Small-sided games with one referee
A new game starts with Center, AR1 and AR2. For a small-sided game worked by a single referee, remove the two AR positions so the game doesn’t sit on the board as two-thirds unfilled. Each game keeps its own positions, so U9 and U15 can share a Saturday.
- Club linesmen
If the clubs supply their own linesmen, remove the AR positions you don’t assign. If you do assign them, rename an AR position to “Club linesman” before you send it, and leave the fee blank when the role is unpaid.
- Eight fields, staggered kickoffs
Write the location the way your referees know it, such as “Harborside Complex, Field 6”. Saved locations are suggested as you type, and the board filters by location, so you can work through one field at a time.
When you pick a referee, Ref Grid flags a kickoff that overlaps one they already hold and lists their other games that day. If a game has no end time, it assumes 90 minutes and marks the warning as assumed, so give younger divisions their real end times. It doesn’t check the walk or drive between fields.
- Pairing a new referee with an experienced center
Ref Grid has no grades or badges, so the pairing is your call. Keep a note on each referee’s record, such as “first season, ARs only until October”, then put the new referee on the flag next to a center you trust. The board shows the whole crew on one row.
- Weather
Move a game’s kickoff or field and every referee who was sent it gets the old and new details. Call it off and they get a cancellation notice, and the accept and decline links stop working. Referees you had only drafted hear nothing.
Fees are set per position on each game, so a center and an AR can be paid differently. The pay report exports what each referee is owed for accepted games that have kicked off, as CSV or QuickBooks Online bills. Paying them happens outside Ref Grid. Running an indoor league? See futsal and indoor soccer referee scheduling.
For your referees
What arrives on a referee’s phone
One message per assignment
No account or app
A calendar file per game
Reminders before kickoff
Limits
What Ref Grid doesn’t do
- No grades, badges or age rules. Nothing checks a referee’s grade or age against the game. Keep that in your notes on each referee, alongside your state association’s rules.
- No automatic assigning or self-assign. You choose every referee. Referees can’t browse open games or request them.
- No dated availability. Referees can give you the days, times of day and divisions they prefer. Tournament weekends and family trips stay in whatever form or sheet you use now.
- No follow-up on silence. The dashboard counts assignments awaiting a reply, and chasing them is up to you.
- One organization per account. An assignor covering several clubs either runs them in one organization, told apart by division and location, or keeps separate accounts.
Where to go next
- Free spreadsheet template
Referees, availability by date, and games with a row per position.
- How to schedule referees
The season from game list to replies, in seven steps.
- Assigning fairly
Spreading centers and ARs, and developing new referees.
- Rainouts and schedule changes
Who to tell, in what order, and whether a rained-out game is paid.
- Other assigning software
The alternatives, and when one fits better.
One plan, with a free trial: see the pricing.
Request a demo
See how Ref Grid would work for your league or club
Tell us about your organization and we’ll get back to you.
Prefer to look around yourself? You can set up your organization without talking to us: get started.
Start with this weekend’s fields.
Import your referees and games, set the crews, and send the weekend when every field is covered.