Belgian FIFA referee Frank De Bleeckere, who has concluded his tenure as Advisor to the General Secretary and Chairman of the Referees Committee at the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA), has sent a letter of thanks to the association.
In his letter, De Bleeckere reflects on his two-year period of work in Azerbaijan, highlights the successes achieved during this time, and expresses his gratitude to the referees he worked with, the Referees Department, and the AFFA leadership.
We present Frank De Bleeckere's letter below:
“I extend my sincere gratitude to AFFA for giving me the opportunity to work with the country's best referees over the past two years.
During this time, we achieved significant success together, both domestically and on the international stage. We made history as two of our referees were promoted to UEFA First Category, secured appointments for the UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Champions League matches, and hosted UEFA Refereeing Officers Björn Kuipers and Carlos Velasco at our seminars. Furthermore, for the first time in our history, we have had four FIFA referees, two additional assistant referees, and three FIFA VAR referees.
We achieved all these successes together, and I am proud of the results we attained. I would like to thank AFFA, the Referees Department, and all the match officials; it was a great honor for me to work with you.
Now, I am turning a new page in my career as I take on the role of Chairman of the Referees Commission in Serbia.
In closing, I would like to end with one of the most fitting sentiments for football and refereeing: “In football and refereeing, we never say goodbye.”
