They train every day in the Florida heat and humidity, put through their paces by athletic coaches. Hours are spent at their team base reviewing videos of their recent performances, and a support team of physios, masseurs, sports scientists and sports psychologists is on hand to help ensure peak performance. The rhythm of their life at the FIFA World Cup 2026™ is: prepare, perform, recover… and then do it all again. If all that sounds like the high-performance environment of a leading team at the tournament, you are right. Only there are no footballers on this team.

They are called “Team One” – FIFA’s elite group of referees, assistants and video match officials, charged with ensuring that every game at this FIFA World Cup™ is officiated to the elite standard required for the greatest show on Earth. The scale and the sophistication of the preparation and support given to the modern referee mirrors that enjoyed by elite players for good reason: if the game is faster and more dynamic than ever, the referees must be able to match what the players are capable of – making split-second decisions under intense pressure, and doing so at any moment across the 90-plus minutes of a game.

The day in the life of Team One members at the FIFA World Cup begins with breakfast at the team hotel. The meals are in line with the standards of nutrition that elite athletes expect and the team aspect; the collective element, is evident even during the first gathering of the day with each official already dressed in their pink kits. Upstairs, in the main meeting room, the leader of Team One, FIFA Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina, is ready for the first formal task of the day – the list of appointments for upcoming games, usually provided three days before the game.

Mr Collina, one of the most respected referees of all time, who took charge of the final of the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™, has just met with one group of referees and assistants as they headed out to the airport for their game, providing some final words of encouragement and advice as they set off for one of the biggest games of their lives. The news of the appointments is, of course, a huge moment for the referees, some of whom are waiting to make their FIFA World Cup debuts. There is a special appointment to ‘Match 1000’ and Romanian referee István Kovács is applauded by his colleagues as he receives the special commemorative shirt he will wear for that game between Tunisia and Japan in Monterrey, Mexico.

At the end of the meeting, Kovács is congratulated by the other referees, there are hugs and back-slaps, illustrating the team spirit that is evident throughout the entire operation. The 41-year-old struggles to hide his emotion – that game will not only be historic for FIFA and the sport as a whole, but will also be his first as referee at a FIFA World Cup after serving as a fourth official at Qatar 2022.

There is not too much time for contemplation, though, as Kovács and the rest of the team quickly head to the team buses and out to training at Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus, a half-hour journey eased by the support of an escort from Miami-Dade Police Department. It is 33°C and the humidity is tropical, but a group of young local players are ready for the on-field sessions, warming up ahead of their work with the referees. The athletic preparation staff take one group of referees and assistants to a back field for fitness drills. Another group works on match situation simulations. Assisting in the process are some young local referees, who are relishing the unique opportunity to help and observe the absolute elite of their profession.

The physical condition of the referees and their workload is closely monitored by physical trainer Silvio Aguinaga and his team, who produce personalised trackers for each official. “We keep individual records on each referee, and we also carry out both group and individual planning sessions here with all the referees and assistant referees,” says Aguinaga, whose group makes use of data from the GPS devices worn during the training sessions.

“Once we get back from training, we track everything live so we can manage everyone’s workloads according to the days when they have to officiate and our daily training plan for each of them,” he adds. The training over, Team One is back on the buses then swiftly back to the hotel for the daily classroom debrief. Mr Collina and FIFA Director of Refereeing Massimo Busacca go through the major decisions from the previous days’ games.

Each major decision is examined not only for the correctness of the referee’s judgement call but also for positioning on the field. Nobody knows the laws of the game better than the people in this room, but the interpretation of those laws in the context of real-match footage brings to the fore key issues to be explored. Lunch is next on the agenda but not quite yet for one refereeing trio, led by Englishman Michael Oliver, which has a video analysis session to prepare for their next game, the Netherlands against Sweden. The FIFA video analysts highlight the likely tactical shapes of the teams involved and pinpoint particular movements that can be expected at set pieces and other moments in the game. The aim is to ensure the referee and his assistant have as much information as possible about the two teams and to help him be fully prepared.

It is not a one-way session, though – Oliver quizzes the analysts, seeking out as much detail as he can from the footage of previous games. It is clear from his questions that he is not only familiar with players he has officiated several times in club football, but has done his homework thoroughly on both teams. It is time well spent for Oliver and his assistants Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, but the carefully curated video clips are a reminder of the preparation needed for such sessions – the ‘prep for the prep’. The analysts spend hours going over footage of all teams, and Oliver and his crew need to be well-prepared to get the most out of the session.

In the afternoon, a range of options are available to the referees thanks to the extensive support staff at their disposal. For those referees in recovery mode after a game, there are treatment rooms where they can receive massages and physiotherapy, and a sports psychologist who is on hand if needed. There are rooms where live games can be watched alongside colleagues and instructors, and break-out areas for informal downtime.

“Team One needs to have a space to relax, to see, to blow off a bit of steam [from] the game,” says Jeremy Deleze, FIFA’s Refereeing Competitions & Operations Manager. “So, the referees here have TVs. We watch the game. We ask them to look at the game, to study the team that they will soon be refereeing. We also have, of course, like every football team, ping-pong tables with a PlayStation. It’s a nice area for them to relax and socialise,” he adds. Throughout the hotel are rooms staffed by experts in the specific skills required for the smooth running of the entire operation. There are transport and accommodation officers who ensure that when Team One members head out to Host Cities for their games, they do so with the minimum of stress. Every step of their journey is planned and monitored – from transport to the airport, pick-up, hotel check-in and transfer to the stadium.

“We [have] very, very important staff working with our referees, trying to support our referees’ preparation. There are several floors of the hotel dedicated [to this],” says Mr Collina. Nothing is left to chance. Just as the referees and assistants need to be at the peak of their performance when the spotlight shines on them, those operating behind the scenes know they need to deliver their best every day to make sure a complex and vital element of the FIFA World Cup works like clockwork. A fitness- and nutrition-focused, calorie-controlled menu, prepared by the team chef, awaits at dinner. “They still have one match to watch, if they wish, of course. And then it is time to go to sleep and they will be very tired,” says Mr Collina.

For some, it is the last sleep before their flights to Host Cities for matches which will be played in front of huge crowds and be broadcast to millions around the world. The pressure and the scrutiny of the game will be intense but this group of men and women, wouldn’t want it any other way. They have spent their entire careers working for this moment and that dedication is matched by their support team.

Part of the beauty of football is its unpredictability but, in their preparations, nothing has been left to chance. And while their standards are high, their goal is a humble one – to let the players shine, the fans be entertained and the contest be a fair and just one. They have no fans to cheer them and will receive few accolades from the media, but when they return to base and are back with their team, the handshakes and warm words of their Team One colleagues will be praise enough.